“It Takes a Town…..” Or how politics and ideologies aside, Pawling made camp continue….

Oh, how I hate to have to paraphrase Hillary Clinton from when she made famous the old African proverb, but in this case her words fit current events in our little town.

Late Wednesday evening, my girls, Gina and Anne, informed me that they had received a phone call from the Town of Pawling Recreation Department telling them camp would be closing due to “a small amount of asbestos” that had been found, and “wanting to err on the side of caution” they thought it best to close camp.

I must admit, my first reaction was, “Oh, great. Now these two will be sitting around the house for the next two weeks whining about not having jobs.” (They are both counselors for the program when home from their respective colleges.)

So, in typical mom fashion I told them they should call their campers’ parents and ask if they could baby sit for some of the kids. As our conversation progressed, I said, “Why don’t they just have camp someplace else in Pawling?”  The girls told me they thought Mrs. Smith, (the Recreation Director for the Town of Pawling) was going to be working on a plan the next day so camp could hopefully reopen on Monday.

With this in mind, Thursday morning I went to my “real” job at Mizzentop Day School, and spoke to our Business Manager, Wendy MacKenzie, and Head of School, Steve Cash, asking if we could offer our space, since only administration was using the building in July, and our own summer recreation program doesn’t start until Aug. 9th.

Since Mizzentop is basically all about community service and helping others, both thought this would be a great way to reach out to the community, help many working parents with their child care needs, provide a safe environment for the campers, and, last but not least (and I must admit, my ulterior motive) keep all those high schoolers and college kids working!

Mrs. MacKenzie called Mrs. Smith and offered her the use of our building.  This phone call sparked a chain of events that floored a lot of people.

“Before Wendy made that phone call to us, we weren’t sure what exactly we were going to do,” Mrs. Smith said. “We knew we had to keep camp going, but how?” After we [she and Robyn Woolley, Town Recreation Leader] went over to Mizzentop, we got the courage to go and see Ed Hauser at Trinity Pawling.”

At T-P they sought out Mr. Hauser, Physical Plant Director, who right away offered what space he had available at the 100-year-old private school.

“He was great.  He showed us around and told us what areas we could use,” Mrs. Smith said.  Even with some events already taking place on campus, he was able to accommodate the Rec Department.

All Thursday afternoon and Friday morning calls were made to Town Hall from others in the community regarding the camp program. The Pawling Public Schools offered to coordinate busing to make sure the  before and after school kids would get to the correct camp locations; Mike Notaro at Mama’s Pizza has been hosting two groups of campers a day  this week showing them how to make pizza. (He’s even offered to open on Monday if the Camp needs him to.) Mr. Lipsky, Principal at the Middle School, has opened his doors to the children’s theater group who usually are at Lathrop Center; Mr. Sciortino, Superintendent of Schools, has been generous in offering anything else that would help keep the camp going.

Late Thursday afternoon the girls told me that plans had been made. Mrs. Smith, Ms. Woolley, and their camp directors had decided that the old Town Recreation Building would be perfect for the youngest campers, since it had a fence and was more suited to that age group.  They chose T-P for their 6^th, 7^th and 8^th graders because of the gym, gym lounge and fields that were offered. They thought that MDS was the right fit for the 3rd, 4th, and 5^th grades because of its size, and other different elements (gym, library, and cafeteria).

I was really happy to hear that things had worked out and camp would be continuing. A lot of families would have been affected by closing the program down.

Friday morning, Town Supervisor, Dave Kelly, and Board Member Bill Johnson met with the counselors, and Recreation Department. He told the kids that “they would be the face of the community,” during this event. He said he could tell that they were all willing to turn this situation around and make it a learning experience.

“We had conversations about what to do, and I watched as Melissa took command,” Mr. Kelly said. “I was utterly awed at how quick people offered to help us out, with no thought about anything else but the kids.  I admire them and thank them all,” he added.

Mr. Kelly also noted that he thinks we have a lot of great kids in this community, many of them college kids who had rearranged their summer vacations to work at the camp. He and Mrs. Smith are both grateful to the community for helping to keep those young people employed.

“People have just been terrific in helping us out,” Mrs. Smith said.

“Our partnership with the Pawling Community is very important to our school and we are happy to be a resource to the Rec Department’s camp program, Mrs. MacKenzie said. “Melissa Smith and her staff should be commended for their quick response and ability to “change gears” so quickly and successfully,” she added.

From a parent’s standpoint, I can totally understand the aggravation some of the campers’ parents must have had knowing they would have to drive multiple children to different locations, but at least there was a place to drive them to. I think aggravation levels would have been worse if working parents had no place for their kids and would have had to scramble for child care.

From a community member’s view, it’s important, especially in these uncertain economic times, for everyone and every group to do their part to keep our children safe and occupied.

Hats off to Melissa Smith and Robin Woolley for choosing such a great group of camp directors, counselors, and counselors in training. From what we at MDS saw, the staff were all polite, well behaved in our building, and respectful.  The counselors all seemed to be enjoying what they were doing and adapted quickly to a change in routine and scenery. They had all pitched in on Friday and over the weekend to transport supplies to the various locations.

A town, a village, a school, a community, a family. It’s all the same.  We need to join together and help each other out in times of trouble, so that we can set a good example to the children in our community. Hopefully the campers have learned about cooperation and respect, and some day pay it forward when it’s their turn to help.

In case you might be wondering who these great kids in our community trying to set a good example for our younger residents are, I’ve listed them below. I hope I didn’t miss any one!

Counselors :Albert Aiken, Emma Bijou, Chris Boyle, Pat Callan, Erin Chambers, Anne Cody, Kevin Hunter, Ilona Jobson, Nora Johnston, Len Lavalle, Nicki Loeven, Dylan Malone, Stephen Malone, Mikey McKenna, Sierra Mead, Ben Nagasing, Melanie Papa, Nikki Piazza, Gina Shustak, Tara Smith, Bryan Zima, and Tim Yu.

CITs (Counselors in Training): Vinny Apicella, Keith Bartels, Zach Barthen, Veronica Benegas, Dan Canale, Brandon Capo, Dylan Delano, Pat Delano, Dom Farese, Max Henny, Savino Igomirello, Zach Jiskra, Matt Jorgensen, Alyssa Kelly, Casey Kelly, Emily Ketchum, Derick Kowalczyk, Mike Konchan, Michael Liquori, Ashley Loeven, Robert Marino, Morgan Meaney, Mark Miller, Mike Miller, Joe Montemarano, Carolyn Mormando, Henry O’Connor, Michelle Piazza, Louis Polidore, Jessie Reynolds, Lillie Sanchez, Dylan Smith, Gaby Stenton, and Kevin Tarczali.

Staff: Geri Barker, Nurse; Phil DeHuff, Sports; Gretchen Dumas, Pre-School; Anthony Esposito, Assistant Director; Julianne Flood, Crafts; Jessica Griffin, Sports; Trevor Griffin, Pre-School; Julian Kowalczyk, CIT Director; Shaun McGee, Ten Center; Katie Phillips, Camp  Director; Kristen Burke, Pre-School.

Waterfront: Kevin Walsh, Waterfront Director; Ryan Forrest, Donna Fossati, Ryan Ingram, Frank LaBarbera & Corey Vitro, Lifeguards; and Matt McDermott, Assistant Waterfront Director.

This entry was posted on July 29, 2010 at 6:36 AM and is filed under Local Interest. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.