No Problem!!!

We had a visitor to Camp Doublecreek in the early morning of February 20, 2017.  It was a tornado and boy did he leave a calling card!  The roof of the riding arena was ripped off.  The water slide had its base ripped from the concrete and the canvas shredded.  The roof from the riding arena landed on the tennis court fence creating a mangled mess.  One Gaga Ball pit had the roof caved in and our big new pit traveled over 50 feet to the end of the tennis court.  Every day we find new damage.  Maybe we should stay in the office and we won’t have anymore damage!  That strategy works for ostriches; maybe it could work for us?

We were asked how the storm would impact Spring Break Camp. Well, I think we could have called this Spring Break Camp, throwback Spring Break.  No riding roof, no problem.  We didn’t have a roof over the riding arena until 1979, and we had no clue what we were missing!  Of course, we don’t swim during Spring Break Camp, but still, we managed for years without a water slide.  No Gaga Ball pits, no problem!  If you have four square, you can play four square anywhere.  No fence at the tennis court, [all together now] NO PROBLEM!  We didn’t have a fence around the tennis court that first summer, which only encouraged long rallies.

In fact, that first summer, we didn’t have a diving board at the pool, nor did we have a sidewalk around the pool.  We had one (yes, one) water fountain.  No mini-golf, gun safety or D2.  I think we had gymnastics under a tent.  We played football and soccer in an open area -- it would really be a stretch to call it a field.  There were multiple things we didn’t have that we have now.  But, we had campers and counselors. From the very beginning, Uncle Carter and Aunt Trudy instilled into everyone, that building relationships and having a memorable summer, was all you needed.  All to say, that It doesn’t matter if the roof is literally in left field. Camp Doublecreek has always been, and will continue to be, a safe, fun filled place for boys and girls, because that is our legacy!

PS - Director Dan wants everyone to know all will be fixed by summer, and will be better than ever!

-- Joe Ray