The end of the school year is on the horizon. For kids and teens that means more than a two-month break from classes. They look forward to summer vacation with its long, sunny days, warm weather, and for many kids, a fun camp experience.
The YMCA was a pioneer in camping and creating the traditional day-camps we know today. In 1867, a YMCA youth director took a group of boys to a lake in New York and created a summer encampment. By 1882 there were enough YMCAs involved in similar activities that they were recorded in the national records.
The first official YMCA day-camp was founded in 1885 and the nation's first permanent residential camp was founded by a YMCA volunteer on the shores of Lake Champlain in 1908. By 1914 there were over 242 YMCA resident camps serving over a quarter million campers each year. The YMCA was also involved in creating the American Camping Association (ACA) with a YMCA camp director serving as its first president.
Today, YMCAs operate more than 1,600 day camps across the country including traditional day camps like the Haverhill YMCA's Camp Tricklin' Falls.
Over 4,000 children attended YMCA of the North Shore summer camps last year. The six different YMCAs in the North Shore association, including Haverhill, offer different experiences. The staples of swimming, sports, and arts and crafts are offered at each, but others offer high and low ropes courses, hiking, sailing, kayaking, field trips and even occasional overnights.
Haverhill YMCA camping dates back to 1907, when they ran Camp Kingston on Great Pond in Kingston, N.H. In the early years, it was a resident camp and cost $8.50 per week. After WWII the Y opened Camp Elliot on Country Pond. At that time the Newburyport YMCA ran Camp Tricklin' Falls. When the Newburyport YMCA closed, the camp was sold to the Amesbury Youth Development Department and later the Haverhill YMCA in 2000.
Tricklin' Falls, located along the Pow Wow River in East Kingston, N.H., is a fun place for kids to swim, kayak, play sports, do arts and crafts, shoot arrows and even climb the new climbing tower.
Last Fall, Timberland, a clothing company in Stratham, N.H. visited to spruce up the camp as part of their Serv-A-Palooza service project day. They built a new climbing tower, renovated the amphitheater, archery and waterfront areas and cleaned debris from the site. They returned in April to finish the climbing tower, build an outdoor classroom and a kayak storage area.
"We have been fortunate that Timberland choose us as a service project site," said Tracy Fuller, executive director of the Haverhill YMCA. "The camp has really been transformed through their hard work and all of us at the Y are excited for the campers to see the changes when camp opens."
The YMCA of the North Shore also runs various specialty camps that highlight a specific program area for children who want to focus on their favorite activity. Specialty camps include gymnastics, soccer, football, golf, competitive swimming, synchronized swimming, art, history, adventure, cooking, science, music and much more.
While summer camp has changed over the years, the quality care children receive and lifelong memories they make have remained constant. Keeping with the YMCA's mission to provide quality programs for all, there is financial assistance available to those who qualify.
For more information on the Haverhill YMCA, call (978) 374-0506 or visit www.northshoreymca.org.
