All right.

We are out in nature.

Today.

I had my friend Denise with me and we are outside experiencing the elements because that's what Camp Eberhardt is all about.

Getting kids out into nature, right?

Yes.

Getting them outside and enjoying nature and grounded in this beautiful earth.

It is.

It is now behind us.

We have an amazing ropes course.

We're going to talk about that.

But I want to loop us back because Camp Eberhardt has been around since, what, 19 1909, 1909.

So over a hundred years you guys have been around, which I think is probably one of the oldest campgrounds in Indiana.

I know it has been old for originally starting as just a women's camp, because that was unheard of back in the 1900s.

Focusing on that.

Yeah, a men's camp, actually, and the women didn't get to come for a long time until then.

And then for a long time it was just boys.

And then a girls got a couple of weeks and then boys again.

And so now you are coed.

Here we are coed.

Okay.

Perfect.

And all summer long, I know you guys are just ramping up your summer camp season.

My kiddo has been here all week long too, so that's been exciting for her.

But tell me about what the camp season looks like for the kiddos during the week.

So when kids come here like they come from all over.

So it's really cool because you meet kids from all different socioeconomic groups and different environments, living environments.

This city and actually worldwide, we have we've had counselors and campers from all over the world.

So it's really cool.

The YMCA Spain's always sends kids, so they send up to up to 15 kids sometimes a year.

This year we had eight of them that were here.

So just really cool.

They come for four weeks and they get the experience, you know, in the United States, which a lot of our campers come then from other areas too.

I love that, and there's so much to do here.

And like I said, we're in front of the ropes course.

But this is important because this has been around for, what, 30 years now?

Over 30 years, over 30 years or 30 years.

So it's starting to get somewhere and tear.

It is getting wear and tear and you know, safety first here at camp.

So we have to look.

We get our poles inspected every year.

And then we also get our ropes inspected every year.

We have trainings twice a year for our staff to make sure we're safe.

But it's time now to be proactive before they say, hey, you can't run your course because it needs to be fixed and you need a new course.

So we in the spring, we had the and he said, you might be thinking about that by the fall.

So we get to have it by the fall.

And then they're going to come in in November.

Take this course down this year.

They're good year.

Yeah.

They're going to take it down.

Yeah.

And then the new ones coming right.

Yes.

And in January they're going to start the construction of the new one.

And I know you guys need lots of community support for that to happen.

So appreciate everyone who can help contribute to that.

But tell us what the new course is going to look like and how it might differ a little bit from what we're used to seeing.

Well, and we don't want to lose all of this because when they come in to do our trainings and they say, your course is in a beautiful spot, it's in the middle of the woods.

It gives me goosebumps because a lot of kids that come here and I'm going to get most of it, they don't get to experience the beauty of nature and to just be in this serene area right here in the middle of the woods.

So when they get to come here, sometimes they're just in awe.

We had one of our counselors is from Egypt, and he stood here and he said, I feel like I'm in a dream.

So it was really cool kind of to get that perspective on it.

Yeah.

Our new course will stay in the same area.

Okay.

So that we can be in the middle of the woods and can still have this the tree canopy here.

Yeah.

It's amazing.

So it'll also have we're going to have a climbing wall in the new course.

So we can have that.

We're going to keep our old climbing wall until it's retired.

But we'll also have a climbing wall on this course which for staff efficiency, but also to help kids go to the next level like, oh, we did the wall.

Maybe you want to transfer over to the ropes.

Do you think you want to do that?

So it kind of helps kids achieve that next level where they out of their comfort zone and kind of be curious and adventurous at the same time.

And I know we're showing some clips along the way to you because I just got to experience this today.

So I got to do my first ropes course here.

And you did I so I live every time I grabbed a pole, I was like land on land.

But it is really exciting.

And I think, you know, even just looking at it here, it seems like, oh, you could do that.

But when you are up there, it's a challenge.

And like, talk about what that means for those kiddos to face those challenges in the long term of what you guys are doing at YMCA.

And if you put that in perspective for kids, like knowing that I can overcome, I can set a goal and I can take small steps to achieve.

Then when they come to things that are difficult in life, it's the same thing, I can do this.

I just have to decide how I'm going to go about doing it, and I can do this, and maybe I'm not going to be as fast as somebody else that you might go, but I'm going to take my time and set my goals and I'm going to do that.

So that's what we have multiple times with the ropes.

Somebody will say, I'm just going to climb up the ladder, okay, I'm back down, okay, I'm going to come up the ladder.

Now, I'm going to go on to the first, you know, the first element across simple.

And maybe they don't go any farther, but they've achieved that goal.

We've had kids that have come from camp mariposa that are fearful of heights.

So they might come up three steps and they're back, but each time they gotta get out the ladder first just to get to the cars, and they progress a little farther.

So, you know, from being up in the course, some of them were more difficult.

So even if they can start with that first step and then that first step onto a wire, and then the more simple elements, they progress.

And it's really cool to see them overcome and step out of their comfort zone.

And I don't even know if you caught yourself saying it, but when I was up there, I heard you say you just problem solved that.

You said that to me.

And I was like, oh, I did, I did.

I figured it out like I was very proud of myself even for that.

So thank you for saying that.

And I know you guys have fantastic counselors here too, but I want to talk about two Camp Eberhardt, because you guys aren't here just for the summer for kids doing overnight camp.

You have so much more going on, in fact, all year long.

And it's really amazing because yes, we have such an impact in the summer and we have this huge influx of counselors and kids for the summer.

But outside of the summer, we have school groups, we have Merritt, camp mariposa, and we have different groups that come in from the recess around, and they come in and they get to achieve.

We have schools from all over Indianapolis and Chicago, but local schools is what's really nice to have them come and experience.

So they do a lot of group activities.

They do individual things that they get to experience.

We do a night hike, we kind of go and Nocturnal Animals are out now.

Oh that's cool.

So it's all kinds of and it's all learning.

Learning about the lake communities, learning about the wood environment and trying new things.

So it's just a great opportunity to get the schools and the kids out of the city.

Absolutely.

Lock in the city and just into nature.

And Ellie was telling me to you because Ellie got to do the course because she's here at campus.

So I got to have a little sneak peek with my kid all this week.

But she said there was a skunk that they got to see last night.

You know, that's not something at home.

We're going inside.

But here I can't.

We're experiencing things.

Yeah.

And it's really awesome because we actually have an albino skunk.

And then with that albino skunk family, there's one that has a really wide white stripe.

And that's what they saw last night.

So they're like, it doesn't even look like a real skunk.

But then it is.

So yeah, they get to see nature and they're not fearful of nature.

And then the skunks, like younger skunks will will spray easier.

But the older skunks, they don't do that.

They kind of like, oh yeah.

Hi.

Good.

We're in good environment.

We're good.

We kind of can coexist together without hurting each other.

So that's cool.

Well that's fantastic.

Well, I hope everyone supports this because this is an important part of not just the growth but also the experience here at Camp Eberhart.

So now, I know you mentioned that kids come from all different kinds of backgrounds.

And one of the great things that you guys offer to is scholarship.

So let's talk about that.

Oh, that's really awesome.

And that's the YMCA.

That's who we are.

We take care of people and our community.

So we work with our community partners.

We have a lot of community partners that we work with.

But some of the partners we work with Oakland, who sends camp mariposa kids here that stains, they get to come here.

But all the schools to were able to scholarship those schools of lower socioeconomic schools that maybe need a little bit more support and help to get their kiddos here.

So that's really awesome.

And we also sponsor, like, the teachers and the parents that come to supervise where they come in and, you know, to watch over the kids and things like that and be here with them.

So being able to do that, that gives those schools the opportunity to be here.

And when they come, they come for three days, a couple nights.

They experience nighttime, like a little shambling of camp.

Yeah.

And it's awesome.

If they can come for the overnight, that's the greatest, because then they can have their campfire, they can do the night hike, they can be in nature and they can have free time, or they just kind of hang out in nature in a camp and on the athletic field and doing the different things together as kids.

And we do a lot of like, team building things too.

Oh, great.

So they learn to kind of coexist and what's really awesome and makes me emotional.

Every time I talk about this, the kids that you see that come to camp with their school group, new leaders evolve.

So and they come up and out of that because kids that maybe not feel real comfortable in the classroom and confident, they come here and they are confident and they rise up and they become leaders here at camp.

It's like everyone starts at like a new playing ground here.

Yeah.

And the teachers have said, it's so awesome because I don't get to see that in the classroom.

And here they come here and they're still learning and they gain knowledge.

And then they also gain skills to work together.

I love that.

Now do you guys have adult camp?

I have to say is that an option here?

We actually have family camps in the camp.

We would do Labor Day and Memorial Day, and then we're also going to do a winter family camp this year where people can come.

And we also have partnerships where I'm with Swiss Valley Ski Lodge.

Okay, so maybe kids, people that are going to Swiss Valley for the weekend or something, maybe could stay at camp, so they would have to call our office to to make reservations for that.

But it's really awesome to kind of see that, to be able to utilize camp to support community all the way around.

I love that so many good things that you guys are doing.

If people want to find out more information about what you guys have going on, what's the best way to get in touch?

They can touch get in touch with the YMCA of Greater Michiana.

They can go on to our website and also camp website and just send an email in to the contacts on there would be great.

They can give us a call here.

But I think that just knowing that we support our job is to support community and to grow community, and we grow people here.

So it's really cool.

Throughout the year, we grow our counselors.

We as an administration grow with new things that happen every year here.

But also we grow kids and we teach them to get along with one another, to problem solve together, to learn that people might think differently, but yet we can still coexist and be happy together.

So I love that.

Well, thank you for all that you do.

Thank you.

All right.