The Emporia Gazette

February 13, 2012

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“If you’d have told me in college that I’d be living at a youth camp at the age of 30, I’d have laughed at you,” Anne Snyder said.

But that’s exactly where she’s at.

For more than six years, Snyder has been happily employed at Camp Wood as the year-round retreat and conference director.

Camp Wood is a 630-acre YMCA camp located two miles south of Elmdale in Chase County. The camp got its start in 1915 when Stephen Wood donated 40 acres to serve the youth of Kansas.

I spoke with Anne Snyder during the recent Art in the Garden event at Toad Hollow. She was operating a concession stand there with the proceeds going to Camp Wood.

Snyder grew up in the Kansas City suburb of Prairie Village. She attended K-State, majored in elementary education, and fully intended to teach in the Kansas City area.

She worked for awhile at a YMCA camp in North Carolina and that led to her job at Camp Wood.

“Being able to work with kids but being outside” is the perfect combination for Snyder.

Oddly enough though, as a girl, her first overnight camp experience was not a pleasant one.

“I went to Girl Scout Camp when I was 9 and I vowed I would never go back,” she said.

But the homesickness she felt as a child helps her relate to the youngsters who feel uneasy at camp.

Each week, Camp Wood serves 200 kids, 2,000 total during the 10 weeks of summer. Snyder said that they draw about 60 percent of the campers from the Kansas City area, the remaining 40 percent from the rest of the state.

Two staff members stay in each cabin along with eight kids, but one night during the week, they abandon the cabin, prepare an outdoor meal, and sleep under the open sky.

“There’s no light pollution so you see tons and tons of stars,” Snyder said.

Campers can choose either a traditional camp or a specialty camp. In a specialty camp, the kids spend most of the day pursuing a favorite activity, such as horseback riding, paintball or skateboarding.

In the traditional camp option, children choose an activity to focus on during the mornings. The remainder of the day they participate in outdoor activities with their cabin-mates. That togetherness fosters friendship-building.

“We really want those kids to go home with new friends,” Snyder said.

In addition to the kid-energy, there has been other positive energy humming around Camp Wood during the past few years. Since 2004, they’ve built new structures including a horse pavilion, a health center, eight cabins and the executive director’s home.

Now they’re continuing their capital campaign to build a new lodge that will comfortably seat the entire camp population. The lodge will house the kitchen, dining room, office, and conference space.

People with a connection to Camp Wood have raised funds with golf tournaments and other activities, such as that concession stand at Art in the Garden. Some of the money goes toward scholarships; no child is turned away because his or her family doesn’t have the money for camp.

Camp Wood is a year-round facility. In addition to the summer camps for kids aged 7-17, there are family camps offered during Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends. During the off-season, family reunions and retreats can be held on the campgrounds.

And the stone cabins (with kitchens) can be rented by individuals or families, either while summer camps are in session or during the rest of the year.

After listening to Anne Snyder talk so enthusiastically about Camp Wood, I wanted to pull my sleeping bag out of the closet and sign up for summer camp. Except that I’m no longer 10 years old.

However – those stone cabins are available. And I’m seriously considering that option.

For more information, go to www.campwood.org or call 620-273-8641.

“Flyover People” is online at www.flyoverpeople.net.

• Cheryl Unruh can be reached at cheryl@flyoverpeople.net.