SUM members enjoy Ellenville's Educational/Recreational Camp (08/26/01)

SUM members enjoy Ellenville's Educational/Recreational Camp

by Olenka Lenchuk

ELLENVILLE, N.Y. - As in previous years, the Ukrainian American Youth Association's (SUM) Educational/ Recreation Camp here in upstate New York proved to be as popular and as much fun as SUMivtsi have come to expect from summer camp. Almost 100 youngsters, age 6-12, attended the 2001 camp, which was dedicated to the 10th anniversary of Ukrainian statehood, 15th anniversary of the Chornobyl tragedy, and the 60th anniversary of the renewal of Ukrainian statehood on July 30, 1941.

A symbolic commemoration of these historic events took place during the camp bonfire at which the campers ,linked arm-in-arm, formed a live chain that symbolized a single, united Ukrainian nation and state. They spent the evening gathered around the campfire singing traditional songs with new and old friends.

The camp program was exciting and varied, and included fun with arts and crafts, sports, songs, hiking and orienteering. One of the most memorable moments for the oldest participants are a night spent camping out in tents near the river and celebrating the traditional Ukrainian midsummer feast of Ivan Kupalo.

With the help of their counselors, the children put up their tents and set up camp, where they spent the night with nature under the stars. The girls wove wreaths and sang the traditional Kupalo songs, while the boys prepared and built the campfire where the evening's festivities would take place. The highlight of the evening was a procession to the river with candles and wreaths which are layed in the water as a symbol of light and freedom.

During the second week of camp the youngsters undertook an adventurous trip to nearby Lake Minnewaska, where they spent the day wandering the paths of the beautiful preserve, then enjoyed a refreshing swim in the clear water of the mountaintop lake. The next day the campers put their newfound knowledge of nature to work in a terrain game that pitted teams against one another in a challenging competition all over the SUM resort grounds.

But that wasn't all that was in store. One morning, upon awaking, the campers found that the world had turned upside down. The counselors had become campers, while a group of campers had taken over command of the tabir and spent the day in charge. The counselors wound up enjoying a day of relative freedom, while the youngsters in charge quickly learned what it took to be in charge of such a large camp.

Among this year's counselors and camp educators were: Volodymyr Kohut (komandant); Olenka Lenchuk (head counselor); Monyka Soroka (bunchuzhna); Irene Lieber (camp secretary); Marta Matselukh, Irka Tymkiw, Chrystyna Woch, Mykhajlo Szpyhulsky, Ihor Symchych and Halyna Tsekhovska, counselors. Father Ruslan Lyubeznj, Sister Natalia and Sister Camilla served as spiritual counselors.

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