Plast's Vovcha Tropa campsite welcomes 374 youths at six camps (07/25/99)

Plast's Vovcha Tropa campsite welcomes 374 youths at six camps

by Andrea Roman
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

EAST CHATHAM, N.Y. - Three hundred seventy-four Plast youths opened the summer camping season here at the Vovcha Tropa (Wolf's Path) Plast campground on July 11.

The youths are participants of four educational/recreational youth camps for "novatstvo" (age 7-11) and "yunatstvo" (11-18), as well as what has been popularly dubbed "Supercamp" for teens age 15 and up, and the special camp for first-time campers age 7.

On opening day, July 11, the Vovcha Tropa administration recorded that 309 campers and 65 members of the "bulava," or camp command, had arrived at the 365-acre site nestled between the Catskill and Berkshire mountains, in picturesque upstate New York.

The largest camp during the summer of 1999 is the camp for novachky, with 73 campers and a camp staff of 17. The camp director is Vera Kaminsky. Novaky - 60 in all - are led by "komandant" Ivan Horich and 14 members of the camp command.

The camp for yunachky, directed by Olia Stasiuk and a staff of 10, counts 65 campers, while the camp for yunaky, led by Andrew Hankewycz and a staff of 13, has 64 participants.

Taras Ferencevych is director of what is officially known as the camp for older yunatstvo; he is assisted by five staffers. The co-educational camp has 35 participants, all advanced campers who have several regular Plast camps under their belts (and the badges to prove it on their uniforms).

Novice Plast campers are attending three separate one-week tours of a special camp whose overall director is Petrusia Paslawsky. Directors of the tours are: Irene Leush, Orest Lebed and Natalka Salek. The camp has 12 participants during its first tour and 18 during the second; 13 are expected for the final tour.

Campers at Vovcha Tropa will celebrate their annual "Den Plastuna" (Day of the Plast Member) with special programs, including performances by the individual camps and bonfires, during the weekend of July 24-25.

The Vovcha Tropa Regional Camp Committee is directed by an executive board of volunteers, composed of both Plast members and supporters of the organization. The executive board is headed by George Huk; he is assisted by Sonia Slobodian and Petro Bokalo, vice-chairs; Katrusia Harasewych, secretary; Paul Liteplo, treasurer; Robert Buzetta, assistant treasurer; and volunteers responsible for various aspects of camp life ranging from medical care and communications to water supply and tents. The administrator for 1999 is Orysia Buzetta.

The first camps were held at Vovcha Tropa in 1953. That year a total of 580 campers participated in Plast activities at their new camp, located 30 miles southeast of Albany, N.Y. Since then, thousands more have enjoyed the camp's fields and woodlands. The campsite also hosted international Plast jamborees in 1962, 1972, 1982 and 1992.

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