Camp welcomes kids back

Lincoln Miller

北喬治亞山脈高處的藍(lán)嶺營地是孩子們心中的理想營地。 因?yàn)樾鹿诜窝?，營地活動曾被禁止。 如今，藍(lán)嶺營地重新向孩子們開放，給他們的生活帶來更多的色彩。

High in the North Georgia mountains lies Camp Blue Ridge (CBR), a co-educational sleep-away camp. In 2020, after more than 50 summers of campfires and memories, owners Joey and Lori Waldman were forced to shut down the camp due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“Camp is often the place where our campers feel the most included, the most accepted, and understood,” the Waldmans told me in an email interview. Like campers in other parts of the country,members of the Blue Ridge family were disappointed when they heard about the closure.

Fortunately, Blue Ridge and other camps nationwide were able to reopen this past summer. Blue Ridge welcomed more campers than ever this year. Like many other kids, I attended CBR for the first time. As my mother explained, “We saw how you missed your friends, and we wanted to give you the opportunity to be a kid again, to make up for everything that the pandemic took away from you.”

I loved my first camp experience and can't wait to return.According to the Waldmans, other campers benefited from their time away, too. “It's a huge positive for so many families and it proves how important and beneficial camp really is,” the Waldmans wrote.

Noah Callahan, 12, of Georgia was among the first-time campers. “When I first walked into the cabin, I was amazed that I could be around these many kids,” he said. “I was so happy! It was very meaningful for me, after almost a year, to finally have so many activities available to me, from gardening to drums. I loved it.”

Blue Ridge provided an opportunity for kids like me to get back to friendships and activities after months of pandemic-related stress. The Waldmans felt the same way. “This pandemic has affected all of us, no matter the age,” the couple wrote. “Camp offered a safe and healthy haven for us all to reconnect in person and remember what a social and loving species we are.”