story and photos by matt rogers
For more photos, see Page 10C.

What might just be a pile of logs can be a fairy house to a child; a stick with beads and string, an enchanted wand.
Thankfully, children still have their imagination. In these economic conditions, it can be expensive to entertain oneself. But the staff of the Kool Kindness kids' camp has figured that one out.

This year marks the third annual Rutledge-based summer camp. However, due to economic constraints, the camp was more “low-key” than past years. That didn't mean a cut-down on fun.

“It's not about making money,” said camp guide Eva Young. “[It's] more about offering an opportunity.”
In past years, the children got to make pottery and drums; this year, they made wands out of sticks, adorning the found-items with beads and string. Campers made their Kindness Garden out of old logs.

(Thankfully, they had their wands ready to enchant their garden after they made community centers out of the logs.)
But camp wasn't all wands and magic gardens. Young used the camp to encourage important life skills, like being open-minded and flexible, both at camp and in life. She encouraged the children to be like “bendy straws”— if someone didn't like a game or activity they were playing, later that camper would be able to play their game of choice. Why? Because in life, things don't always go your way.

Over the years, the annual Rutledge summer camp has gotten smaller and smaller. Its first year saw 75 children from 6 years old to 12, and mostly from Madison. There were 50 campers last year, and this year, there were 25, most coming from Rutledge.

Whether the economy is partially to blame is uncertain, but Young says the timing of this year's camp fell around the same time many other camps and Vacation Bible Schools occurred.

The camp ended Saturday, July 10 with a Family Fun Day that had a “small turnout,” but that didn't stop the children from enjoying themselves on the water slide.

“There was a continual line of kids sliding for eight hours straight,” Young said.
“[It's] simple, fun and hopefully a sweet sense of connecting with that innocence that comes with childhood."

Printed in the July 22, 2010 edition.