I don't answer staff phone calls at night (especially after 11pm), but when Counselor B called three times in a row, I knew that I needed to answer it and that it wasn't going to be good.
She cried as she told me Counselor N had just called her to let her know Justin had died. A counselor for 2 years, he was one of the best staff I have worked with. He was always focused on the kids, creative, supportive to other staff, and genuinely seemed to enjoy himself in everything at camp. He was killed in a one car accident on Wednesday morning.
I was totally numb as I listened to her cry, as I called the other staff, as I answered phone call after phone call from hysterical staff until 3am. I watched, unable to turn it off, as every staff changed their facebook profile picture to his photo over the course of the next few hours.
I woke up earlier than usual the next morning and felt like I was in a daze as I headed into the office. Business Manager J hugged me and asked how I was. Numb. In disbelief.
I sent out an email to the camper families and then spent the morning answering emails, the phone and calling each of my staff to check in with them. I was blown away by how much response I received. I was overwhelmed by how much emotion people were expressing and how much people came together to express their concern and sadness.
Because Justin lives in another state, far away from us, I decided we needed to have a memorial service and it probably needed to happen as soon as possible to bring my staff together.
By the end of the day, I had a priest and church booked, the service planned, and had pulled all of the photos of him from the summer together into a nice slideshow. The mass was planned for Saturday. I emailed everyone again to let them know, and being that it was less than 48 hours away and scheduled for New Years Day, I wasn't sure how many people would be there, but we were ready.
On the morning of the mass, there were a million details to work out, the weather was making the roads icy, I was unsure of how many people would be there and overall, I was a bit of a mess. But we had 50 people- most of the staff, several campers and families, and it was clear right away that they needed to be together.
Many of the staff and campers wore tie dye. We sang upbeat praise and worship songs and had all of the staff and kids go up to the alter and do the motions for the final song together.
We showed the slideshow, which made people cry, but laugh a lot too. Afterwards, everyone gathered together for snacks and catching up. Eventually it was just the staff left, and we came together for a grape kool-aid toast (Justin's favorite) and then someone suggested a song, and so we circled up and sang and danced with as much spirit as we've ever had.
There were some tears, but overall, the day was fun (if you can say that about a memorial). And at the risk of sounding cliche, I think Justin would have appreciated it, and was probably smiling down over the whole thing.
We are not a fancy camp. And even after three years of hard work and significant improvements, we are still a bit of a mess financially. I still look around sometimes and wonder if I will have a job in the months ahead. But when I give my end of the week speech every Friday before the campers leave, I tell them that they are now part of the "Camp family". The Camp family is made up of 64 years worth of people who have been to camp, and even though it's changed, the community spirit has been the same all along. State of the art facilities and financial stability would be nice, but a community of people who can come together as a family in a time of difficulty is by far the greatest example of excellence I could ever imagine and I am incredibly proud to lead this community.
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