Letter from the Editor
Given that we call our magazine “Letters From Camp”, I thought I would share with you a letter that I wrote from camp.
About three decades ago.
The first time I went to camp was when I was 8 years old at YMCA Camp Ihduhapi. I remember a lot of fun parts of camp, but I was also very homesick, and the photo
below is an actual postcard I sent home to my parents.
Yes, that’s a drawing of myself crying!
In the “Retrospective Surprise Endings” category, this one might have earned first place. Today I’m the director of alumni philanthropy at YMCA of the North, the latest position in a long, camp-filled career. I was on staff at a YMCA Day Camp Guy Robinson for 6 years, directed the Shoreview Y Day Camp for 2 years, and then spent 13 years as the executive director of a private overnight camp, before returning to the YMCA in my current role working with the 8 overnight camps. So, despite the rough start, camping has been central to my life and my career.
As a camp director, I shared this postcard with parents every year to talk about homesickness. I am sharing it with you because while interviewing folks over the past few months, there have been a lot of tears. Not tears of homesickness, but tears of joy, tears of gratitude, tears of nostalgia. Tears mixed with laughter as people shared their memories.
Camp changes lives. I feel privileged to have a job that lets me to listen to people’s camp stories and share their laughter, tears, life lessons, and warm memories.
The goal of our magazine is to tell the story of camp through the combined stories of our community. Campers, staff, volunteers, donors, parents, and friends — you are our camp community.
I appreciate your willingness to share your stories, your time reading this magazine and all of the feedback you gave from our first issue in January.
I look forward to hearing more: more feedback, more stories, more updates. Please reach out and let this magazine be a conversation!
Natalie King
Director of Alumni Philanthropy Editor, “Letters from Camp”
Natalie (lower right) at Camp Ihduhapi with fellow campers
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