Good Times, Great Memories and One Amazing Summer

Dear Chen-A-Wanda Families, 

It has been a true privilege to spend this summer with your children. Tonight, as part of our Memory Night tradition, Jon and I spoke to everyone in Shields Hall to wrap up our summer. Over the past seven weeks, we’ve been updating you on the daily joys and moments here at camp. We sincerely hope our blogs have captured the joy and magic we’ve all shared together and that you at home were able to feel what was happening here at camp. Tonight, our letter was written to your kids and as everyone was together for one last time in Shields Hall, we read it to them.

Thank you for entrusting us and our team with your children this summer. It truly takes a village, and we are immensely proud of ours. Our goal was to give your kids an incredible summer that would inspire them and help them grow. We hope they return home feeling taller, tanner, more confident, and proud of their accomplishments, with new friends and cherished memories. Even the bumps in the road are there to help your children grow. Everything we did was designed to provide teachable moments and enriching experiences. Soon, you’ll be holding them close, eager to hear about their amazing time at Chenny. After a good home-cooked meal, a long shower (they might need a bit of help removing the color war spray), and some good restful sleep, we hope they tell you it was the best summer of their entire lives. We apologize in advance if your kids end up dancing on the kitchen table! And a heads-up: avoid playing Jai Ho, Fireball, or Crazy Frog at home unless you’re prepared for an impromptu dance party in your kitchen.

Thank you once again for sharing your wonderful, kind, funny, and smart kids with us all summer. Our hearts are full, and after some much-needed rest, we’ll start planning for Summer 2025. Enjoy your kids tomorrow and know that their summer family will miss them dearly. 

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It was exactly 49 days ago, Jon and I stood in this very spot and welcomed you to Summer 2024. We looked out at all of you and saw so much excitement, some nerves, a lot of joy and wonder for what this summer would bring. Our hope was that this summer would enrich your lives, allow for new friendships to be made, strengthen relationships you already have and provide you all with the most amazing summer ever imagined. And here we are at the end and from our vantage point seeing you all arm in arm, holding onto one another not wanting to let go, it looks as if we accomplished our goals. We truly believe that relationships made here are so meaningful because they are built out time invested in each other without the complications of phones or social media getting in the way. We worked through conflicts together, we empathized with one another, we apologized when we were wrong and we built a community based on trust, love and a willingness to share our hearts. We are a beautiful mosaic work of art and each one of you in this hall is perfect just the way you are.  Don’t ever try to fit in, just be yourself and standout.

To be able to make this summer happen, we brought together the most inspiring, engaging, uplifting staff that are sitting in and amongst you all. We brought them in from all over the globe, and we owe a huge thank you to this incredibly talented group of people, who gave their everything to you and to this place.  To all our Staff: Jon and I agree that without a doubt and no question at all that there is no harder job on this planet than the one you all just completed. Our hope is that when you go back to school, head back to work or look for a job that you can reflect on the summer you just experienced and feel a deep sense of confidence in who you are and what you offer the world. We believe in you; we are inspired by you and we hope this summer gave you exactly what you need to create the life you want and deserve.

To our campers:

To our CIT’s in the back of the hall – MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! We need you to know that this camp loves you just as much as you love it.  It has been joyful being a huge part of your childhood and we thank you for bringing the spirit and positivity this summer. Your time here as a camper has officially come to a beautiful end and we thank you for honoring the Hill and leaving your mark. To our GC’s who traveled the country together and truly became a united division, it is our pleasure to say, The Hill is Now Yours! We can’t wait to see you shine as CIT’s next summer.

And to all our campers, you are the heart and soul of this camp, and we are here because of you and hope you had the most incredible summer.  On those cold winter nights, we hope you remember the amazing things you did and accomplished during summer 2024. We can’t wait to see you back here in 10 months and do it all over again.

Some of you may know that just before the campers arrived this summer, we lost our dog Dude. He was lucky enough to spend his summers with amazing people and he gave a lot of love and licks to so many of you. Our sadness quickly turned to joy as we heard from hundreds of staff and campers who shared stories of the impact Dude had on their lives so even a dog can make a huge difference here, and his life definitely had purpose. We honored Dude with hanging his jersey in the back of the hall and even though he is not here with us we know that his legacy lives on and on and on – so like Dude, live with purpose and share your love and it will certainly make a difference to everyone around you.

As our last night is upon us, we hope you all leave here tomorrow and bring a little Chenny with you everywhere you go. We hope when you hear Jai Ho or Crazy Frog you start dancing no matter where you are. We hope you spread kindness and see the value of making those around you feel good and we hope we inspired you as much as you all have inspired us. Thank you, Camp Chen-A-Wanda, for bringing us all together and proving that opening our hearts to one another makes the world a better place. Our incredible media team put together a video starring YOU and reminding us how Life is truly Great at Camp Chen-A-Wanda. We love you and we will miss you and we can’t wait to see you right back here for summer 2025!

Jon & Elissa