Tent Time
Quiet time, time to reflect, rest, recharge, reconnect… at Alford Lake Camp we call this time “tent time”. What is tent time? The time right after lunch and right before dinner, spent with tentmates and counselors in our tents.
Ask any ALC camper and they will tell you it is one of the highlights of their days, because tent time is mail time – the time when our eager Jr. CTs hand deliver letters from home!! But tent time is more than just time to savor letters from home. It is time to spend with their main camp group – their tentmates and their counselor, their small ALC family. We specifically build in time in our campers’ daily schedules for meaningful time to connect, bond, share and enjoy with their immediate peers and their counselor. We, at Alford Lake Camp, are proud of our tent groups. The small, close-knit community of campers and counselor living together provides real relationships, true understanding and acceptance, as well as and a sense of “oneness”. Our counselors and campers know each other, are proud of their tent groups, and share the experiences, joys and responsibilities of living together.
Just as a family gathers around the dinner table to reconnect after busy days, our tent groups share tent time to reconnect after activities at Alford Lake. Silly games, books read out loud, stories of the day’s experiences are all part of tent time. Talking, sharing, and laughing… all ages enjoy the time to be together every day. The skills of living together, of community building and understanding the needs of others are all honed at ALC and most especially within individual tent groups. Together our girls learn life lessons of peer relations, communication and group living.
We wish everyone could have “tent time” in their lives!! Time to pause from work, share unscripted time with true friends, all with a patient, fun and understanding counselor. Imagine how happy we all would be…
Days spent on the shores of Alford Lake Camp are multi-layered. They are a mix of dynamic activities and quiet times. Tent Time is part of our tradition, part of our success and part of the gift we give campers (and they give us) each summer.
Warmly,
Sue McMullan, Director
Betsy Brayley, Assistant Director
