Testimonials - Learn More About Our Campers and Their CCG Experience

Donna, Paul and Family

Paul, Donna and family came to camp for two summers all the way from New Mexico.

Their story: We were initially attracted to Camp Common Ground by the fact that it’s a true family experience, with activities for everyone – some age specific and a lot for the whole family.

In the morning, our children, Marshall and Dusty go off to spend several hours with other children their age in fun supervised activities, which they, as individuals and as a group, have a large say in choosing.

While the kids have fun, so do Paul and I, joining in various organized activities such as tai chi, singing, meditation and the men’s and women’s discussion groups. This intellectual and spiritual stimulation is an important part of our experience at Camp Common Ground.
We spend our afternoons as a family enjoying Vermont in the summer – swimming and boating or playing ping pong. We enjoy the opportunity to talk with folks for whom building community and living a connected and responsible lifestyle is important. The week at CCG flies by but leaves us feeling a part of and connected to a fine community of people.

Francis and Family

Francis is a single father and organic dairy farmer from Wisconsin who has been coming to camp with his children since 1995.

Their story: Camp Common Ground is a community. The kind of community I think most people look for. There is a responsibility, cooperation and consideration for others here at camp. People quickly become part of an extended family.

I love the people, the food and the chance to do things that I don’t get to do very often like hear live music, dance and participate in the Friday night big (talent) show.

Many campers volunteer their special talents and give workshops and classes. My son and I learned to play the violin at camp and that inspired us to take lessons at home.

My children and I share in jobs that make the community work, but the few hours of work we do each week are enjoyable because they are shared and there is plenty of time for fun. Sharing both the work and the fun builds the community.

I have always believed that the cause of many social problems we face today is the lack of community and the lack of caring environments for whole families. I see Camp Common Ground as a model and an inspiration for me to build a community in my own neighborhood.

Carol and Family

Penny and Carol are two moms who live in Vermont and have shared their lives together for the past 15 years, while parenting their daughter. They’ve been coming to camp every summer since 1997.

Their story: We live in a great little city in the beautiful state of Vermont surrounded by mountains and lakes, fields and pastures. But like most cities, we lack a safe and comfortable neighborhood. The kind of place where you can walk out your door and chat with friends or watch your child playing with other neighborhood children. That’s where Camp Common Ground has been a blessing for us. It’s our “neighborhood.” It’s a place where we can comfortably be ourselves and are clearly recognized and appreciated as a family of three, exploring the joys of family life while making friends, relaxing and playing, all in an environment that supports, accepts and celebrates who we are.

At camp, we set up our home for the week on a large platform tent. Each morning Kayla gets up early to meet up with friends, share a little breakfast and then head off to the kid’s programs.

We all catch up with each other at lunch and either participate in some afternoon family activities together or go for a bike ride or swim. Often our daughter Kayla just wants to be off independently with her friends, which gives Penny and me some free time to play or get to know each other again. We take advantage of everything camp has to offer…swimming and boating, biking, non-competitive sports, painting, crafts, yoga, meditation, massage, music, singing, dancing, performing in the “Big Show” and of course the food. The bountiful, delicious, nourishing, healthy, wonderful food. Three meals a day, every day, that we get to sit down together as a family and enjoy without having to do the planning, shopping, cooking or cleaning up.

At Camp Common Ground, it’s always a beautiful day in the neighborhood. And that experience lasts all winter long for us.

Naomi and Family

Naomi has been coming to camp with her two sons and daughter since 1995 from Massachusetts.

Their story: In thinking about how to express my family's personal experience with Camp Common Ground, several metaphors come to mind. The first is the famous line from the movie "Forrest Gump". “Mama always said that life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you're gonna get." Each year, which now total 9, prior to departing for camp, we have read the various Camp Common Ground brochures, and weekly program descriptions, and have mentally committed ourselves to certain activities, classes, school-age programs and jobs. However, as I steer the car out of the driveway, I am solidly aware of the fact that in reality no one can ever really prepare for Camp Common Ground. As beloved and familiar as the folk, activities, and the beautiful state of Vermont have become, each year brings startling new moments of beauty, surprise, humor, emotional and physical challenges, and discoveries that promote growth, impermeable memories, and opportunities to develop a rich family, "shared history."

I have many mental and tangible "Kodak moments" that parallel Kodak's long ago "Turn Around" commercials. My now 15 year old son, when he was six, holding a huge frog, fondly named, "Big, Fat, and Ugly", in a small "swamp" created from days of Vermont summer rain in front of the dining hall. Camp Common Ground had provided him an exciting week of adventure in what became his small version of the "Everglades." My now 13 year old son, at ten, spending hours counting thousands of lima beans to fill a jar in what had proudly become his annual, "Step right up and guess the number of beans!" stand at the camp fair produced by the children for the community. My, now 24 year old, then teenage daughter, and her friend, staying up late in the dining hall learning some serious bread making skills as the baker's apprentices, and gleefully savoring the first warm results.

As the years pass we sometimes play the, "Remember When?" game.

• Our neighbor lent us that tent that was supposedly waterproof and it collapsed in the middle of the night during a rain storm, and we happened upon the one empty cabin?
• It rained for almost 5 days straight, and someone had the idea to go sliding down the hill in complete mud, and everyone in the camp followed to loud cheers, and celebration? The dining hall burnt down at the 11^th hour, and our meals were prepared and served in a giant tent, with Christmas tree type lights?
• At every turn in the bend there was a camper pretending to be an alien creature stealing tennis balls for the camp movie?

Every so often in our home and back within our daily routines we come across a puppet that we made, a beaded necklace, an old photo, a recipe for whole grain breakfast muffins, from our "family camp". It's as if in the midst of winter, we have encountered a jar of home canned tomatoes from summer's prime crop. Once opened the full flavor and scent are as fresh and vibrant as the day they were picked.

Anu Ra and Family

Anu Ra is an art and yoga instructor as well as a home-schooling parent from New Jersey. He came to Camp Common Ground with his daughter for the first time in August 2002.

Their story: I must admit I was a bit apprehensive about going the camp up in Vermont. I knew it would mean a test of diversity. I grew up in a Montclair, NJ. Montclair has been awarded for being open minded and multicultural. Attending school there, I was blessed to experience a taste of Dr. Martin Luther King's dream. Montclair is not the entire world. My daughter and I have experienced racism both subtle and direct. It's an unfortunate reality of the nation we live in. So the thought of being up in what some elders in my community would call "white America" gave me a bit of concern.

All fears were destroyed from the onset of the journey. At the last minute before camp last year I was struck with some financial set backs that would have prevented me from attending. I never told the staff up at Camp Common Ground, but I was ready to give up. They proactively sought solutions that made camp possible for my daughter and myself.

On the ride up the Vermont, my car pool partner, her 4 year old daughter, my 5 year old, and myself sang songs, snacked on vegetarian snacks and talked about parenting. Christine and I talked openly about racism (she is Italian), spirituality, and relationships. It was a dialogue that broke the taboo of crossing the lines of culture, race, sexuality and class.

This fulfilling and challenging (you try traveling 8 hours with two children under the age of eight) journey was only preparation for what was to come. We were greeted with smiles, a landscape that would make an eagle smile and colorful birds. I was excited, but still nervous. I kept saying to myself, "This can't be real."

Throughout camp we ate great vegetarian cuisine. I strongly believe that one of the reasons why the meals tasted so good is because the cooks and the kitchen staff really cared about preparation. They were so careful about making foods for vegans, and special diets such as wheat-free. I am a single parent, poet, dancer, astrologer, martial artist, Yoga Instructor, film maker and writer. Along with doing these things I also work on several committees. So, maintaining the type of vegetarian diet I would like is a bit challenging with such a hectic schedule. I think I echo the sentiments of the other parent campers when I say that it was truly healing to know food would be prepared and that it was guaranteed to be plentiful.

My daughter was a bit shy. I think her own personal experiences with racism caused her to begin to close up. This proved to be only a reflex. She soon found her self very much at home. In addition to actively participating in the children's program, she was talking to everyone, from children to elders. I could see she felt free, safe, accepted, and beautiful. I also saw that her experience at Camp Common Ground would stay with her for all of her days. She did arts and craft, boating, violin lessons, tye dye, and other games and activities.

This experience was undeniably life changing for me. During camp, I actually went kayaking, took a hip hop and Salsa dancing class, took my first guitar lesson, listened to a talk by a local field naturalist, went swimming, heard a 17 year old red-head jam on slide guitar, listened in awe as a group of "white" folk sat around singing tribute to Harriet Tubman - and singing with soul and devotion. Camp Common Ground is AWESOME!

I believe that the impact that camp has had on me will flower as the years go by. But for now I would say the greatest gift it gave to me was what I learned from watching my daughter's experience. That is, acceptance makes one feel beautiful. Acceptance gives one the space needed to be creatively and peaceful expressive. This is how the world should be.

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