CHRONICLEDiscover the Spirit!

It was great seeing so many campers and families at the Fall Harvest Festival. Thanks from the bottom of our hearts for showing “habits of the heart” – we received hundreds of

donated coats for our One Warm Coat initative. They were given to the Nassau-Suffolk Coalition for the Homeless, and it truly warms our hearts to know that Coleman Country families are helping those less fortunate stay warm over the winter.

We loved seeing The Ranch come alive with Pardners, Kinfolk, and Ranch Hands, and it was especially fun to give you a preview of our new expansive Coleman Look, with more parking and renovated basketball and volleyball courts. The project has certainly made for a very busy fall, but that hasn’t stopped us from a few other activities and initiatives.

Last month, Ross was inducted as president of the New York State Camp Directors Association, a group that represents the children’s camp profession in New York State by monitoring and responding to all legislation and regulation that might impact children’s camps. Of course what that means for our families is that he is not only a leader among peers but an advocate for best practices in the field of camp.

We’ve also been tweaking our website and updating the interactive map, taking advantage of the amazing aerial video that we shot during the past summer. While that footage already has been integrated into Coleman Country, the Movie, you can now see it in clips throughout our website, ColemanCountry.com, and shortly on the iPad and iPhone apps which can be downloaded from the iTunes store if you haven’t yet (if you have, updates were automatically reloaded). The interactive map is also a new rendition – although it won’t look like that for long! (Expect a map update by spring when construction is complete!)

And in our spare time, we’ve been reviewing our lunch menu, and we think you’ll be pleased to see the addition of even more healthful options – but don’t worry, we wouldn’t dream of changing the “kid-friendly” offerings!

Stay tuned for more updates as the months roll by. In the meantime, enjoy the upcoming holidays, and stay warm with memories of great times on The Ranch – past and future!

Vol. XXX No. 1 Fall, 2011

Fall Harvest Fun...

Howdy Pardners

…was the theme of the day where hundreds of campers and their families gathered to rekindle their friendships, to celebrate the season, to preview our new facilities, and to frolic on the grounds, which were transformed into a family fairgrounds. Pumpkins galore served as a backdrop for pumpkin-decorating, pony rides, boating, GaGa, knishes and apples as campers and their families scoured The Ranch for their perfect pumpkin in the Coleman Country Pumpkin Patch.

THE COLEMAN BUBBLE

This time, we really mean Coleman “Where” and not Coleman “Wear!” Our “Dream Big” theme has made its way to Colorado, where it has been adopted by Roundup River Ranch, a Paul Newman Hole in the Wall Gang camp for children with life-threatening illnesses. The banner, which hangs in the dining hall of the western-themed camp, was a “hats off” to Marla and George for their help in getting the start-up camp off the ground (Marla was instrumental in staff training, George was an advisor on facilities construction, and both of them were counselors last month at a family camp for seriously ill children – Marla in Arts & Crafts and George at Fishing). There’s a very special camp in the mountains of Colorado, with a very special connection to Coleman Country – just like here, it’s also a place where kids know they can “Dream Big.”

Coleman Where?

49er FeverO

ur senior campers, known as 49ers because not only are they in grades 5 through 8 (between 4 and 9!), they get the chance to explore beyond The Ranch. Two incredible optional overnight trips are planned

for this summer—one for 5th and the other for 6th, 7th, and 8th graders – in addition to the fabulous weekly trips that all 49ers experience. (Of course, any campers who choose not to go on the trip will have fun-filled days at camp.)

Campers who are entering 5th grade in September can register for the Pocono Party, an overnight July 17-18. The trip includes accommodations at Great Wolf Lodge, a hotel and indoor waterpark with a wave-maker pool, a roller coaster-meets- waterslide, a 4-story soaking wet treehouse, and the famous Double Barrel Drop. The trip also includes a day at Camelbeach Waterpark, an outdoor

venue with 22 water slides including Vortex and Spin Cycle, a pair of bowl body water slides, and Triple Venom, a 6-story platform with body slides and a race to the finish line in the Checkered Flag Challenge. Before heading home, we’ll participate in a jousting festival at Medieval Times, while we feast on dinner there!

Campers who are entering 6th, 7th, and 8th grades will have their own adventure of a lifetime: three days and two nights in Washington, D.C. and Virginia August 6-8. This adventure centers on a day at Busch Gardens. But wait, there’s more! On the way to Virginia, we’ll have lunch at Union Station in D.C., followed by a visit to the Spy Museum and Newseum. Dinner at Carmine’s will precede an Illuminated Monument Tour. The next day, we’ll head for King’s Dominion before enjoying the aquarium and dolphin show at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor on the way north.

Whenever we take camp on the road for an overnight, we travel in air-conditioned coach buses and stay at top- notch hotels and eat first-rate meals; our own counselors and supervisors accompany the trips.

Registration forms can be downloaded on our website at ColemanCountry.com. Click on Coleman Families, where you will find 49er Trips. Feel free to call the office for any questions at 516-620-4300.

Check out the slide show of the Fall Harvest Festival at ColemanCountry.com There you’ll f ind scrapbooks of past events under Coleman Families.

WHAT DO WE DO THE REST OF THE YEAR?!This fall, we’ve undertaken our biggest project ever, as we pushed out our parking lot, re-graded basketball and volleyball courts, installed a removable winter soccer bubble, hired bridge painters (yes, people who paint bridges!) to spiff up the Dream Dome, and did a zillion other “underground” things to support those projects. In fact, every Tonka truck you ever read about in Cars and Trucks and Things That Go came to life on The Ranch as changes were taking shape!

And so, the answer to the question we get all the time: What do you do the rest of the year? Is “tons of stuff” (and we mean that literally as well as figuratively!) Construction has been on schedule, and everything that needed to be accomplished before the winter sets in is buttoned up. When you come back to The Ranch for Spring Fling on May 20, you’ll see the fields and courts –

after they’ve settled over the winter – in all their colored glory with freshly applied surfaces that will signal the soon-to-come summer action!

There are some “givens” when it comes to Coleman Country: It never rains at Coleman Country. It’s never dark at Coleman Country. And it’s never dull at Coleman Country: We are committed to always building better facilities, program, and staff.

As we approach our 30th anniversary, we are honored to announce that Scout Supervisor Lew Siegel will

also be marking his 30th summer at Coleman Country! Lew has decided to transition this summer, and will be working side-by-side with Ed Stankewick (of Baseball Card Club fame), as the former second grade counselor prepares to step into Lew’s shoes on his own in 2013 (along with Felicia, of course!). We couldn’t be more excited about our leadership trio for our first and second graders.

Most campers already know Ed, as he is the headliner for our musical sing-alongs during the summer. A highlight performance is the Pioneers’ Unbirthday Party, so our first graders will recognize a very familiar face! A music teacher and performer, he captivates audiences, and we are excited that Ed’s talents will now be in the supervisory arena as well.

Ed, who also is an avid baseball fan, has been a music and reading teacher in the New York City schools for 15 years. He has B.A. and M.A. degrees from Adelphi University, from which he also holds a Professional Diploma in reading. He also writes, records, and performs children’s music. This will be his fourth summer at Coleman Country, where his children Eddie Jr. and Anthony have been longtime campers.

Lew’s children, Randi and Neil, were campers and counselors through the years, and now their five children attend Coleman Country! Lew’s wife, Karen, also was a supervisor for many years before assuming a 12-month position as a school principal.

It’s all in the family… and we are thrilled to have Lew and Ed working alongside Felicia this summer.

MEET ED SUPER SCOUT SUPE

And don’t forget to cuddle up with your 2011 video yearbook, which was sent to you in the mail if you were a camper on The Ranch last summer.

Coleman Country is often referred to as a “bubble,” because it is such an idyllic world unto itself, and when you’re here

you feel protected from the outside world. And now there actually IS a bubble! Our new (removable) soccer bubble joins the Grand Playhouse (which is turfed during the winter) as venues that allow local leagues to

have a place to train and play during late fall, winter, and early spring months. Both of these huge, heated

spaces make a terrific addition to the children of our communities… not to mention the lounge that transforms the Chow Hall into a place for parents to relax and socialize while enjoying refreshments and watching practices and games on closed circuit TV.

THE COLEMAN BUBBLE