Goodbye Summer ... Hello Fall

Hi Campers!
What a wonderful summer we had with all of you! It seems like it was just yesterday that we were all at camp together singing in the dining room! There were so many highlights from all of our sessions and that will definitely make the CDs , web gallery and slide show very exciting!
Watch your mail in early October for the photo CDs and for information and paper applications for 2011! If you are really keen you can register on line starting next week or you may download the applications from the website and send them along with your deposit! PLEASE note that on line registrations must be confirmed by your parents with a cheque in the mail within 2 weeks of you posting the registration. Please also feel free to pass on the paper information to friends who might be interested in joining the Tan family for 2011! There is no greater gift than being able to pass on and share Tan with others. YOU are our greatest ambassadors!
The fall has been a whirlwind of activity at Tan! We had an AWESOME kindercamp at the end of August! The program was filled to capacity with a waiting list and we had an AMAZING staff to look after making that first time camping experience a really great adventure!
Today we begin our Season for Seniors program followed by school groups and then adult art programs! It will be a very busy fall!

We miss you all and hope that you are enjoying your return to school life.

TanamaHugs and love to you all!

NEXT MAILING
Your next mailing will be coming to you early October. If you have ordered a photo CD then your enevlope will contain that along with the 2011 material. Be sure to register online or return your application immediately as we wouldn’t want you to be disappointed! New campers will all be accepted on November 15th!

NEW CAMPERS for 2011
If you are interested in TAN for next summer then we would encourage you to apply in the fall! We welcome any potential new campers and their families to call us at camp and come for a tour! We are up at camp until the end of October and we would love to show you just what makes Tanamakoon such a special place to spend your summers! Call us and book a tour: 705-633-5541

Directions to Camp
Hwy 401 to Hwy 400
Hwy 400 to Hwy 11
Hwy 11 to Hwy 60
Hwy 60 to Algonquin Park (25 kms inside west gates at Cache Lake Landing)

MAILING ADDRESS & PHONE FOR CAMP - all mail for campers, cits and staff should have the envelope marked clearly-Camper, CIT or STAFF

Camp Tanamakoon
PO Box 10010
Huntsville , Ontario
P1H 2H5
Phone: 705-633-5541

PLEASE DO NOT USE UPS for parcels. You may use FEDEX or CANPAR or EXPRESS POST.

Cabin Request Information
Campers may make cabin requests in the spring. Your BULLETIN contains a Camp Information Form that has a space for cabin requests. Please DO NOT call and make verbal requests. All requests must be in writing. We ask you to limit your request to one mutual request. Please be sure that you are approximately of the same age and grade and that your request is mutual. Your parents must co-sign your form. If you have any updates on cabin requests please put them in writing and you can fax them to the Oakvile office at 905-338-3039 prior to May 15th Please remember that an important part of camp life is meeting new people and making new friends.

ALL requests must be in writing and must be received by May 15th. Cabin placement is not given out until you arrive at camp so please DO NOT call the camp for this information. They are not authorized to give this out.

You will have noticed an icon our homepage that refers to Tanamakoon being Bullfrogpowered! Read on and find out why Tanamakoon is helping to lead the way environmentally in today's world! You'll be hearing and seeing lots more this summer about our newest environmental actions and programs! Stay tuned for more updates!

"We believe in fostering a sense of responsibility for our natural heritage among our campers, and that means we need to model that in our own day-to-day activities. Our decision to support clean, renewable power by becoming a bullfrogpowered organization aligns with our overall commitment to operating in an environmentally responsible manner." (Kim Smith)

Now entering its 82nd season of operation, Camp Tanamakoon is a renowned summer camp for girls. Located on its own lake in Algonquin Park and accessible only by water, the camp has welcomed four generations of girls from all over the world to share adventures and build lifelong memories. In addition to its popular summer program, Camp Tanamakoon also operates an Outdoor Ed Program in the spring and fall for grade seven and eight students, as well as a seniors program, a Kindercamp for four to six year olds, and an in-depth art instruction program. Over the course of the summer, more than 900 school children, 600 summer campers, 50 Seniors, 80 kindercampers and 12 artists visit the camp.

Camp Tanamakoon demonstrates a strong commitment to the environment and to educating campers on protecting and promoting environmental stewardship. The camp has implemented state-of-the art environmental practices including installing waterless, pollution-free composting toilets and an on-site sewage treatment system, constructing a solar-powered building, and using solar thermal systems to preheat the water at the camp shower house and its new commercial kitchen.

Thank you campers for your participation in Earthhour

Make every hour Earth Hour

Don't stop at Earth Hour - live The Good Life! The Good Life is WWF-Canada's new campaign that helps Canadians track the actions they are taking for the planet so you can actually see how your actions add up to help fight climate change. http://thegoodlife.wwf.ca/Home.cfm

Sarah Vingoe Reflects on the Benefit of All-Girl Summer Camps

Thank you Camp Tanamakoon!

At the young age of 6 my mother and father sent me to camp for 2 weeks. They packed me up and shipped me off. It was scary and exhilarating all at the same time. In the end, Camp Tanamakoon was one of the very best gifts they ever gave me.

I was a very clingy kid. I would not leave my mothers side. I would hang off of her like an ornament. I could only imagine the annoyance and grief this caused my poor fun mom. She tried everything to curt tail the cling that was little ole moi. She would accompany me to play dates and then try to tip toe off once she knew I was knee deep in funÉshe would slowly and slyly try and sneak her way out the door but I was too smart and coy for that. I always caught her and would run to her side and ask "mommy, where are you going?" She would smile and simply say "Dolly you are having such fun, I thought I would leave you to it... "Before the words could even escape her mouth I would announce, "I am coming with you". This little game went on for quite sometime or at least until I attended camp.

I remember my very first camp departure day like it was yesterday. I wore a cute and well-pressed camp uniform. (Camp Tanamakoon is a traditional all girls camp where both campers and counselors wear uniforms daily) I was decked out in a beige polo shirt with hunter green sweat pants and sweatshirt. I was a ball full of nerves but stood bravely in the Yorkdale Parking lot with my Dad, waiting for the bus to arrive to take me far far away to the unknown. My mom could not come for obvious reasons to me now but not at the time. If she had come I never would have ever gotten on that bus. The excuse that day was she had to tend to my little brother.

When the bus arrived I gave my Daddyo a big hug and hopped on. I remember looking out the window watching my Dad wave at me feverishly and crying my little green eyes out. Camp. I did not want to go to camp. My little brain was spinning in circles in my head. "WAIT!" I yelled, the counselor upfront looked at me and said "what is it?" "I forgot my sleeping bag". This began quite the little distracting adventure. The counselor came and grabbed me and took me off the bus where my Dad ran up with concern written all over his forehead. "What is it?" he asked. "I do not have a sleeping bag!!" I shouted with fear. His concerned forehead relaxed and he lifted me up and said "Of course you do. Your mother would never send you away to camp without a sleeping bag." He hugged me tight. I sobbed hard. Back on the bus the counselor and I went, and off the bus went to Camp Tanamakoon.

I am not sure my parents knew how special and important camp would become to me. Camp Tanamakoon changed me. It helped make me, me. At the end of that first summer I got off that bus a different little girl. Not only did I come home a little dirtier then when I first left, I came home with new friends, new memories, new strengths and a new confidence. I was no longer clingy. Obviously I did not know it then but I most definitely know it now, I found a second family.

The word "Tanamakoon" is a Native American word meaning "Hail fellow, well met", an appropriate name for a camp that creates long lasting friendships. Mary G. Hamilton, principal of Margaret Eaton School in Toronto, started Tanamakoon in 1925. Miss Hamilton chose the site where the camp stands on the shore of a sheltered bay of Tanamakoon Lake, then known as White's Lake in Beautiful Algonquin Park. Everything about Tanamakoon makes my heart smile. I can close my eyes and be there in an instant. Tanamakoon is what I would term heaven on earth.

I attended camp Tanamakoon for thirteen glorious summers of my life. I started as one of the youngest kids at camp and by the time I left I had been on staff for three summers and my last summer I was co-head of swimming, led a trip to Temagami in a war canoe for seven days and was honoured to be cabin A's (the oldest campers in camps) counselor.

At Tan, I learned many skills and lessons. Such skills included: canoeing, kayaking, archery, woodcraft, sailing and more. I learned leadership skills, team building skills, the importance of morals and values. But the most important thing I learned at Tan was the value and importance of a true friend. The friends I met at Tan are quite frankly the truest of true blue, life long friends. They are the type of friends whom love and support you no matter what. They are also the type of friends whom you do not need to speak to daily but you can go days, weeks, months...even years, and pick up right where you left off! These friends are magical. They are what you deem truly beautiful inside and out.

Last week I was reminded of how special and important my Camp Tanamakoon family is. I feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to attend camp and to have Tanamakoon as part of my life. Not only am I the farthest thing from shy but also I am so lucky to be part of this unique family. Tan taught me so many important lessons and values I still carry with me today. May this beautiful place remain forever and continue to bring other little girls what it brought me.

The Tanamakoon family is one that continues to grow year after year. It's funny and wonderous how Tan provides a common bond among any girl, young lady or women who has shared in its magic. With many years passed since I last attended camp I still meet and greet girls who shared the magic that is Tanamakoon. Some are individuals I have known from days past, some I am only meeting for the very first time. But as with all first impressions it is amazing to discover that a new found friend, colleague or associate went to Tan. You immediately share a common bond, an understanding and respect for one another.

Thank you Tanamakoon for everything you are and everything you have given me.

V.

"There is nothing quite as special as a friend of summer days, learning from each other in so many different ways...We are growing towards tomorrow, our past will keep us strong...The memories of Tanamakoon live on."