Camp Tecumseh completes all-time record year
Comet staff report

YMCA Camp Tecumseh's 84th year will be its largest ever serving more than 35,000 campers. Founded in 1924 through an agreement between the Indiana State YMCA and a group of Carroll County community leaders, the camp has grown into one of the largest YMCA resident camps in the country.

"We are thrilled to have so many youngsters enjoying this great place," Dave Wright, executive director of Camp Tecumseh said. "But most important is how they grow through their experience. If it were just an outdoor recreation experience they could simply be going to a park. YMCA camping is much more than that."

Wright said visitors and campers experience growth in faith, independence and self-reliance, confidence and character, and how to work cooperatively.

"Camp Tecumseh is a unique experience, tested over time, yet ever-adapting," Dick Ristine, the camp's volunteer board of directors president added. "From traditions like learning to successfully guide a canoe or ride a horse to something as current as helping their cabin group compete in The Amazing Camp Race, for many youngsters Camp Tecumseh is the place where they feel a sense of belonging and accomplishment. Many also tell us that this is the place that they feel closest to God."

YMCA Camp Tecumseh provided fee assistance in excess of $170,000 to more than 2,200 campers thanks to hundreds of generous donations during 2007. The numbers reflect the camp's top five percent placement among camps which report results of their fee assistance programs.

The camp's programs and facilities are used in collaborative relationships with many groups and organizations including Hoosier Burn Camp, Royal Family Kids Camps, Trails of Hope Camp, 4-H Camp, Rotary Youth Leadership Awards Camp, CHAPS, outdoor education programs, Brownies and Cub, Girl and Boy Scouts.

"It has always been our desire to help develop Hoosier children into caring, responsible, healthy Hoosier citizens of the future," Wright concluded. "Helping youngsters become more active physically, more effective socially, and with an opportunity to grow spiritually."

YMCA Camp Tecumseh is a charitable organization whose mission is to put Christian principals into practice through programs that encourage healthy spirit, mind and body for all. Call (765) 564-2898 or visit www.camptecumseh.org for more information.