ONE and ALL

"Character may be manifested in the great moments, but it is made in the small ones." -
Phillips Brooks

The above quote rings true; that character is revealed in the big moments but made in the small ones, especially when your day is filled with facilitating programming for ‘small ones’, youth. Did you know that character development is something that is woven throughout the programming at the Y? The YMCA of Central Stark County participates in the Character Counts Programming. 

Every summer we celebrate our involvement with the Character Counts Initiative by bringing our Summer Camps together for a fun day filled with games as well as meeting fellow campers. This year we had over 400 campers, from throughout Stark County’s 8 different branch locations; descend upon the Lake Local Schools’ Stadium. Upon arrival one can only imagine that the energy level in the stadium was high from all of the anticipation and excitement. The campers joined in singing camp songs and were met with our very own Captain Character who kicked off the day by reminding all of our campers of the character values. 

The campers were split into age groups to participate in games, activities and inflatable fun. We even had the YMCA youth sports staff, from the North Canton Y, volunteer to do a few sports related stations for the kids. This is such a neat opportunity for our campers to meet and play with campers from other YMCAs throughout the county. 

The Jr. Day Camp group had a variety of events ranging from the bubble blast, clothes pin tag, water cup derby, hula wars and so much more! While the Camp-Mid groups loved being on the track and football field. That was really ‘cool’ for them. The Day Campers seemed to really enjoy the inflatable obstacle course. Everyone had so much fun partnering up with other branches, participating in the activities and working on their sportsmanship. 

It was an awesome day with great weather, at an amazing location where the school worked with us to make sure everything was ready to go. Your campers might have recovered from all the fun by now but we know they definitely went home feeling tired that day.  It is great to see all of the camps in our association together in one location not only to see how many kids we are impacting but to also make this day a great one for all of them! 

Lyndsay Gatto, Child Care Director
Paul & Carol David YMCA

Abby Messner, Child Care Director
North Canton Child Development Center

Christina Collins, Child Care Director
Lake Community YMCA