Timberlife – December 2024
Directors Message
Hello Timberlane Family,
As 2024 comes to a close, families across the country enjoy the time-honored tradition of winter break. Winter break has traditionally been a time for families to join together and connect with one another. Some years the time is more meaningful than others, and typically, when break wraps up, the family adults and children are ready for a little time apart back at work and school.
Winter break means a travel opportunity for many families, and if you’re headed somewhere this year, I hope it’s a place you’re excited about, and opportunities for new experiences are part of the plan. Having some time to recharge and relax is important also. At camp, we try to make sure every day has a mix of adventure but also rest and reconnection time back in the cabin. I’d like to suggest that wherever your winter break takes you, even if it’s nowhere outside your hometown, campers: challenge yourself!
When the bus rolls into camp, every camper has goals and ambitions for the summer ahead. We hope those goals help shape a magical, perfect camp experience for each camper. Some of the goals campers made for themselves involved an activity or progression in a skill, others involved adding to their existing circle of friends, or improving connections with campers they met in a past summer. Whatever the goal, we asked campers at the last campfire to approach life outside of camp with a similar mindset: How can I make the most of the situation I am in right now?
So for those who are traveling, find something to do that might be “off the beaten path” for you, and find a way to add a little adventure to your travels, whether it is trying a new food or spending a day exploring nature near you, or just finding a new way to connect with a sibling. If you’re staying home, challenge yourself to a day offline, or make a list of “5 Things I Want to Accomplish Over Break” and then plan how to accomplish them.
Two weeks of time with no one telling you how to spend it is a rare treat, especially once you get older. What can you do to push yourself during this amazing opportunity? If you have an amazing experience this winter break, share it with us on our Instagram! We want to hear what you got up to, and celebrate your adventures with you.
Most of all, have a great break no matter what you end up doing, and get ready for an amazing summer of 2025. Check out all these returning campers we can already look forward to seeing as they get off the bus, ready to start another session of amazing Timberlane adventures!!
Benches Up,
Sam
Giving Back: How Can Camp Help Teach About Giving Back?
Hi everyone, and happy holidays! One of the great gifts our camp has is its seclusion. We have almost a mile of driveway between camp and our driveway, and that’s a fantastic gift to make camp the natural, rustic, and “off the beaten path” setting we want to provide. However, when it comes to asking the campers to think about how to contribute back to a community, they don’t have a lot of connection to our nearby towns of Minocqua and Woodruff. In fact, other than on a van cruiser day, a camper can go the entire session without ever seeing the town!
There is also the question of how to get the campers to “give back” without feeling like they are being volun-told to do so. With those questions in mind, last winter our admin team made a focus of finding a way for campers to think about others less fortunate and also create a tangible end product they could be proud of being a part of.
Enter Rick Jones, our Indiana-based assistant director, who for almost 20 years has been helping with the support of the homeless around Indianapolis. He recognized a need in his community long ago, and took his Monday evenings to distribute food, clothing, and blankets to his community’s most needy. One need that arises every year is safe and portable heat sources, and Rick found a perfect crossroads for our camp community and providing a desperately needed resource: candles! Our Arts & Crafts program has been making candles for as long as Timberlane has been open, and Rick developed a free period activity where each cabin would come in for 15-20 minutes, make a set of candles using molten wax and soda cans with their tops removed. By the end of summer 2024 the camp community made almost 300 candles.
Once these were completed, Rick transported them back to Indianapolis and made sure they got into the hands of the homeless community before winter weather arrived. Rick shared that since distributing them, he has been asked to pass thanks along to the campers for their efforts. They truly are making a difference for many individuals in need, and even adding a little fun. Rick reports that once they receive a can, there is some swapping that takes place so everyone gets their favorite soda.
This was truly a special activity that meets our goals of both being engaging for the campers, but also makes a real change for others in need. We appreciate Rick in particular for organizing the craft at camp, as well as making sure the candles got to those most in need this fall. We look forward to another round of candles next summer to continue our efforts in making a change for the better in people’s lives!
Best wishes to you, and your families, this holiday season. My son and I are deeply grateful to be able to call the Timberlane community our summer home.
See back here next month!
-Jeff
Aka Mel/Melrose
Jeff Melrose
BRAVO TO OUR DECEMBER BIRTHDAYS!
This month’s birthdays include
- 1st – Elliot Loring
- 2nd – Eden Kaplan, Henry Styles, Zachary Styles, Drew Bauer
- 3rd – Erica Florimonte
- 5th – Henry Friedman
- 6th – Tycho Mazarakis
- 8th – Dane Thiel
- 16th – Brady Thiel
- 17th – Alexander Brochstein
- 18th – Ever Williams
- 20th – Gunnar Eberhard
- 21st – Finian Belmont
- 22nd – Molly Hodge
- 26th – Julian Manchukian
- 27th – Alex Finkelstein, Caden Walker
- 28th – Hunter Frankel
- 29th – Jeff Melrose
- 30th – Alex Goldberg