An Updated Pool Just in Time for Summer!

This has been a very exciting week at CHH! We're officially moved into the brand new Glickman Family Welcome Center out at the front of Camp by the parking lot. This is very rxciting because it will be a great way to help limit traffic through camp in addition to summer security guards and it will help alleviate  congestion during check in and out. 

In other exciting news, the pool is being resurfaced! We're not just patching here and there; we broke concrete and brought in Barrington Pools, Inc. to do the project right. They're doing a fantastic job an should be done next week. This should be welcome news to many of our families who have had scraped toes over the years. It's important for the bottom of the pool to have some texture to it to prevent the swimmers from slipping but it should be much smoother and more comfortable on tiny toes. The reviews we've read of pebble fina say that it's the way to go so, hopefully, it will be better!

Camp Pictures and Emails Through Bunk1

We are very excited to tell you about our partnership with Bunk1.com. The service is a secure, easy to use, summer website that allows you stay in touch with camp (and to some extent, your camper) all summer!

Get started – create an account

You’ll need to begin by creating an account:

1. http://www.jcys.org/chh/index.html

2. Click the “photos and camper email” button

3. Enter your Pre-Approved Invitation Code (sent to you via email)

4. Fill out all the required information

5. Purchase Bunk Note credits (you will need a credit card)

6. View camper pictures and send an email 

to your camper!

What do I do if I lost my username and password?

You can get it online by clicking on the “Forgot your password?” link. You will receive an email with your username and password within a few minutes.

Viewing Photos

After you login to Bunk1, you will see links on the left side. Click on “Photos” to see the camp photo albums. Photos are 

primarily organized by folders. Click on a folder to see the photos inside. Depending on the volume of photos in the particular folder, you may find that there are additional sub-folders. You can click on any photo's thumbnail to see the full version in a slideshow view. The slideshow controls are above the large photo as well as icons that allow you to tag the current photo as well as add it to your list of favorites. You can use the small thumbnail photos at the bottom to quickly jump around the slideshow.  When not in the slideshow view, you can scroll to the bottom of the photos and more will load (if there are more in the folder). The new photos will automatically start loading when you reach the bottom of the page. There is no need to click any "next page" type of link.

Bunk Notes

From the Bunk Notes page you can send 1-way emails to your campers. If you've entered campers into the system, they will be available via a select box. If your camper's name isn't listed, you can write in the name. You can also specify which cabin the bunk note should go to. 

Bunk Note messages are restricted to 2000 characters. This is to help prevent notes from spanning multiple pages so camps have an easier time distributing the notes. Microsoft Word Users: If you write your message in Microsoft Word and then copy/paste into the message box here, please use the 'Paste As Text' icon (2nd row of buttons on the right). Microsoft Word inserts lots of "invisible" characters into the note that can cause problems. There are additional add-ons which you can include with your note. Please remember these require additional credits and my cause the character limit to drop in some cases.

Features you need credits for:

• Borders - adds a decorative border around your bunk note. 
• Bunk Reply Stationery - adds an additional page to your bunk note that will allow its recipient to send you back a reply. 
• Email Reply - If you choose reply stationery, you can also choose to have the reply emailed directly to you as an attached PDF file. - Either way, you will get a notification when a reply comes in for you.
• Baseball Box Score* - This will allow you to choose from the list of Major League Baseball games happening "today". When your bunk note is printed at camp, the boxscore for that game will appear.
• Sudoku* - When the bunk note is printed at camp, a Sudoku puzzle will be printed inline.
• Recent Tweets* - This will allow you to insert a Twitter handle. The 3 most recent tweets will be inserted into the bunk note at the time the camp prints it out.

*You can only have one of these add-ons at a time

To view bunk notes you've sent, you can click the "View Sent Bunk Notes" link. If you run out of credits, you can always buy more via the "Buy Credits" link.

QUESTIONS OR PROBLEMS?

Please call Bunk1 at 1-800-216-9472 or go to www.bunk1.com/contact.asp

Get Your Camp Cloz and More!

Are you gearing up for the summer but missing some gear?  We've paired up with Cloz.com for all your summer needs!  They have our packing list on the left-hand side of the page and you can get everything you need all in one spot, from shower shoes to sleeping bags, from bathing suits to bug spray.

In addition to that, they have some unique logos for you to choose from to personalize your camp apparel!  For example, specific logos for alumni, sports, just for boys and just for girls, and some just for fun!  Here are a few of my favorites but there are so many to choose from!  Hurry and get your camp items sorted for the summer!  It'll be here before you know it!

Springtime Outdoor Education

All year long I get asked one question from anyone I talk to: "what do you do the rest of the year?"  Over the last few weeks and for the entire month of May, my answer is, "outdoor education".

The spring is the time of year when we are overrun by schools and youth groups looking to do some outdoor education before the school year ends.  This, as it turns out, is one of our specialties.  CHH has had a focus since our inception of offering children the opportunity to experience nature in a way they otherwise wouldn't be able to.

For example, our biggest springtime program is the Pioneer Program.  We teach the students about the American Pioneers moving west across the US.  We teach them about chores that the pioneer children would have had to do, including candle making, wallet making, and rope making.  They also help prepare their own lunch.

During the whole fieldtrip the students learn about the activities but also why they needed to do these things and how they would get the supplies.  For example, where they would get milk, eggs, and vegetables from when there are few towns along their path.

In addition to the Pioneer Program, we do straight up outdoor ed programs.  We teach students shelter building, fire building, orienteering with a compass, we look at the lake habitat, tree identification, animal tracks and shelters, night hikes, etc.  During these programs we get the opportunity to teach as well as explore with the students.  Rarely do children get the opportunity to wander and explore in a safe, supervised, highly wooded setting.  This gives them the chance to become more comfortable with their surroundings.

The benefits of outdoor education are innumerable.  Campers and students are often afraid of the dark, the woods, and animals simply because they are unfamiliar.  When we offer them the opportunity to learn and explore these things, they become fun!  There are even studies that show that simply being outdoors has a positive effect on ADHD, to the point of "curing" it.  Doctors have even begun prescribing "green time".  Where better to get some green time than at a camp?!

If you're looking for more on this topic, check out Richard Louv's book, "Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder".

CHH - Made in the Shade

It has been a cold and miserable spring so far.  Grey skies, brisk winds and plenty of rain have filled the days of the past month. Where are  sunny springs days?  The kind that are ideal for the first walk in the forest preserve, bike ride around the neighborhood or a round of golf? Yet despite the frigid start to spring and long harsh winter, this cold weather has not made me forget the brutally hot, dry summer we had last year. It was intense! If somehow the memory has faded for you, let me remind you.  Summer 2012 saw the 3rd hottest July on record for Chicago.  We had one stretch where the temps topped 100 degrees for 3 straight days.  That hasn't happened since 1947 and only one other time before. July 5th the mercury hit 103 which is just 2 shy of the all time record.  I know all of us at camp were thankful for the Lake and the Pool so we could cool off in order to just get through the day.  Unfortunately we can't spend the entire day in the water.  There are a lot of us on the grounds of CHH and we've got to share Pool and Lake time.  The only other relief was to grab a bit of shade.

Did you know that it really is cooler in the shade?  Check out this study done by a group of 4H kids at county fair in Waverly, Iowa. The kids found that the temperature was on average 27.5 degrees cooler in the shade.  WOW.  That is quite a difference. It is the difference between passing out from heat exhaustion and having another amazing day at camp.  That must be why the early founders of Camp made sure to plant so many trees.  Camp was originally open farm land when it was first purchased in 1923. Other then a stand of oak trees, the 180 acres that is now Camp Henry Horner was wide open and practically shadeless.  You can see here in the picture just what it was like.

In the foreground is the dining hall with those oak trees just behind.  Two rows of the original army-style bunk house tents with the Rec Hall in the background.  Once you got past the oaks near the dining hall there wasn't a tree in sight.  But, thankfully, we know the forefathers of CHH had some good sense because as they built the cabins, they planted some wonderful shade trees right next to them.  They already knew what the 4H kids in Iowa found out; it's cooler in the shade.  But that was a long time ago and now camp is faced with a new challenge.  We are losing our trees!

Many of our beloved oaks are diseased and dying.  This is true as well for the beautiful ash trees planted by the camp founders.  Emerald Ash Bore has devastated them here and all around Illinois.  Plus we are being crowded by development on all sides. Short sighted developers cut down well established and healthy trees that border CHH just to make building more convenient   Plus, nature herself does take a toll on the trees as well.  It seems like every year we lose 2, 3, or 4 trees to weather and the advancing of time.  Obviously we still have lots of trees around camp and so there will be still plenty of shade to enjoy this summer.

But we can't afford to think like that.  Beautiful shade trees take time to grow and spread their canopy.  We have to have the same sort of vision the camp founders had.  Gentlemen who never got to enjoy the shade of the trees they planted but instead got to enjoy knowing that generations of campers who came after them would.  Let me encourage you to do the same.  Help us plant a tree for tomorrow's campers.  Donate to our Green Guardian Fund and leave a legacy.

Duck Tape "Rolls Across America"

This summer we're very excited that the Duck Tape Tour Bus will be coming out to CHH on July 19th!  They'll be coming in and doing art projects with the day and overnight campers using Duck Tape!

Fun fact about Duck Tape: did you know that it's actually "duck tape", not "duct tape"?  Originally the tape was developed for use during the war in order to seal the edges of boxes and keep out water.  The name came about because water rolls off of it like water on a ducks back.  The reason it's not actually called "duct tape" is because it is not heat resistant.  Anyone who has tried to use it on heating ducts knows this is true.  Once the tape gets hot, the adhesive wears away and the tape comes off.  And now you know!

Refer a Friend to Camp

We believe in the power of camp so strongly that we want everyone to have a chance to come to CHH!  Camp creates lifelong friendships, builds community, and provides for social interaction.  So many of our staff members started here as campers and we hope many of our current campers will become counselors, too!

Camp is a very powerful thing and if you have a family that is still undecided on a camp, we can help!

1.  We can offer new families the 15% SuperSaver Discount if they mention this blog

2.  Any family that registers that you've referred to camp, you'll get a bonus off of your camp bill as well

3.  You camper gets to have more friends at camp!

Please call if you have any questions or would like to schedule a tour!

847-740-5010