Did you know that Camp Onas is not just in the summer, but in the fall, winter, and spring?

There's a lot happening in the off-seasons. In the fall, winter, and spring, Camp Onas sees a variety of visitors. These visitors include schools that come to Camp Onas to experience a version of our program, retreat groups, and rentals. 

During the fall and winter, I’m focused on the strategic work that readies Camp Onas for a bright future, as well as overseeing our preparation for the summer. 

Preparing for the summer season involves a lot of moving parts. During the staff hiring process, I really enjoy catching up with camper alumni and returning summer staff as we build an incredible team that makes the most of everyone’s strengths. In addition to hiring, we make lots of other decisions– from updating policies and building our registration site, to anticipating the funding we’ll need for financial aid, programs, and facility/maintenance needs.  

I’m always amazed by how quickly summer arrives and brings Camp to life, which is the best reward after months of hard work, contributed by our whole staff.

Winter is hard on a lot of our older structures and equipment and maintenance is a must. I spend a fair amount of time preventing excessive weathering by keeping things under cover, fixing any leaks, and making minor repairs. 

Managerially, winter is very busy at our little camp. Registration and hiring are in full gear, and each season comes with many certifications, licenses, and verifications. We try to do as many of these as possible during this period. 

Spring is all about getting things back open. Because very little of Camp is heated, the water must be removed from the pipes over the winter. It is a process to turn them all back on. The same thing with the pool, it takes a lot of time to get the pool in shape for bathers. All I can say is thank goodness for the pool cover! 

During the late fall and winter, my home office becomes registration central.  For staff that work at Onas year-round, we often hear "what do you do during the off season?”  Well, that's when the hard work happens to create a well-oiled machine, so to speak, for those seven magical weeks in the summer.

As Administration Manager, I handle the year-round tasks such as bill paying and payroll, bank deposits, and generally supporting the Directors and our Advancement and Engagement team.  In the late spring, I facilitated the onboarding of approximately 100 summer staff, many of whom I remember as past Onas campers.  

One of my senior cats, "Terra" loves to nap under my desk and keep me company.

Now that the Onas summer is here, I'm really looking forward to seeing staff and campers!

In addition to overseeing our “regularly-scheduled” fundraising activities and major communication touchpoints, I’ve been working with a volunteer committee that is helping Onas drive a special fundraising campaign. It’s been especially fun and fulfilling because our efforts are specifically geared toward connecting and spending time with fellow Onas community members.

While it’s a big lift that requires a lot of behind-the-scenes learning, brainstorming, and planning, we often fall into a classic and cathartic Onas activity: storytelling. Fortunately, sharing Camp stories isn’t a digression from our work– it’s a central part of it. The memories, friendships, lifelong lessons, tools, and values we gain through our Camp experiences often drive people’s decision to give back and stay involved, and they inform how Camp continues to make a positive difference in people’s lives long after their last closing campfire. As we tell our individual stories, we weave a collective Camp Onas “case for support” that we hope will resonate with our entire community when the time comes to launch the campaign.

Each person on the committee has such a deep love of Camp rooted in their own experiences as a camper, parent, or longtime volunteer (sometimes, all the above). It’s been truly special to grow closer to each of them individually, and I’m so grateful for all the ways they show up for Onas.

This year, I've been spending a lot of time on many different projects. This is one of the things I love most about my job: the opportunity to experience lots of things during the year! Among many things, I have been preparing for the summer program, helping maintain our facilities, working with our partner schools, undertaking some professional development opportunities, and talking with lots of Onas families about the summer. 

One of my favorite memories from the spring was attending a conference hosted by the Summer Camp Society. Not only did I learn a lot that will help me in my role as Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access Coordinator, I also facilitated a session on consensus-based decision-making. It was wonderful to not just bring Quaker values to the space, but also to use some of our programming from the Justice Activities to help deliver that message. 

During the spring, I also spend a lot of time coordinating with camper families, rental groups, and our partner schools. We have a lot of different people visiting Camp, whether it is for one night or a month, so it is important to me that I help everyone feel ready and excited for their trip to Onas. While I don't have a great photo of me actually chatting with people about Camp, I posed for this goofy one where I'm in the power position at my desk. Yes, it really is that cluttered all year... I'm working on it!

In the winter and early spring, I work on a lot of different things. This work includes coordinating financial aid applications, creating this very newsletter, and updating the website.

As a camper who once received camperships to come to Onas, it’s really rewarding to be able to work on financial aid. My job includes processing the applications, doing outreach to families, working on the financial aid budget, and coordinating with outside granting groups. Camp Onas has a relationship with two external scholarship makers: SCOPE (Summer Camp Opportunities Promote Education) and ESS Cares (an organization that supplies bunk beds to summer camps). We are thrilled that ESS has given FIVE Onas campers scholarships this year and SCOPE has granted us funding for 13 campers. 

In April, I went to New York City to volunteer for SCOPE’s annual fundraising benefit event. This is the third year in a row I’ve gone. It’s always a pleasure to be able to spend time with the SCOPE staff that I am emailing with throughout the year and it’s great to be able to give my time to support an organization that not only helps kids go to Camp Onas, but to many different camps across the country. It’s great to meet other fundraisers and summer camp professionals. 

For website updates, I worked with our web designer and Dex to build a FAQ section for camper families, which we hope helps them prepare for Onas and know what to expect from their experience. 

I’m also working on planning some fun regional alumni events! If you are interested in hosting a regional event, please email us at friends@camponas.org and we can help you with planning