“This is The Best Place Ever!”

“This is the best place ever” yelled one of our inner city Detroit day campers.  It was Wednesday morning during our hottest week of camp and Danae Durling, our Detroit Day Camp Director, worked her magic and recruited the neighborhood fire station to fill our water activities with water (this was faster than doing it by a hose).

Then the fire fighters followed this gift of kindness with another – they sprayed all the campers and our staff with their hoses.  Campers and staff were gleefully running around under the mist of cool water.  It was one of those moments we can’t orchestrate at camp.  They just happen and we run with it.

During this spontaneous moment of fun, Liz Taylor, our Detroit team administrator, heard one of our summer staff cry out “This is the best job ever!”.

“This is the best place ever” and “this is the best job ever.”  There just might be a correlation between the two.  Take a look at the photo’s below of the neighborhood in which this day camp took place.  Now align those photo’s with the statement “the best place ever”. Being “the best place ever” is more than a location.  It’s staff who love their job and love those they serve, who believe they have the “best job ever.”  This is what creates “the best places ever”.

It was a remarkable week for these campers and staff.  I will share a couple more stories over the next few days.