Teresa Toda Home and Church of Saint Edward, 20th Camp, Our 25nd Year Together
“Do you remember my name?”
Each older girl, first moment of arrival. That was hard!
Dates July 9-17, 2022
Travelers 2022
Sister Mayra, Jen Millikin, Ann McGuire (me), Sister Grace, Ella Millikin, and Gwen
This year, we only had 5 total travelers, which is fewer than usual. Over the years, our guideline has been that 6-12 travelers is the range, with 8 being the optimal number of travelers. We had more travelers signed on, but with family illness, COVID+, passport delays, and a wedding (happy reason!), our numbers dropped over time.
We still wanted to do camp, so we made some accomodations.
Instead of brings donated goods to the home, we asked for monetary donations. Monetary donations
- take up less suitcase space and
- help the local economy as the Sisters use it to purchase their needed school and health supplies from local businesses
We restructured camp as well, so instead of stations, we had all math together on the kiosko, then all english, then crafts in the dining room. We broke into groups, but they were looser and let us move around as needed. We always began with the opening ritual, and ended the day with closing ritual and a drama.
Sister Grace did a lot more interpretting for us! We enjoyed being able to spend more time with her. She’s wise and light-hearted, like all the Sisters, a saint among us. Later in the week, Maria, a Noviciate, joined us as well and helped with her spanish and english skills!!
Arrival
The girls we so excited to see us!! We missed two camps – but that was 3 years. So 6 year olds were 9, 9 year olds were 12, and so on. I recognized everyone’s face, but it was tricky putting names to these faces of much taller kids! Name tags were the first activity. I was so glad to see them healthy and happy, like I remember them. Like always, they greeted us all like family.
English
For English, we used bilingual books this year. If was fun. The girls really want to improve their english. We are brainstoring ideas for next year – please share your ideas.
Coloring is always a hit.
Dramas
We continued our tradition of dramas each evening. Group of girls used their costumes and a lot of creativity. Check out this angel!
Crafts
Crafts builds self esteem and is a channel for creativity. Also, older girls help younger girls. Crafts are fun!
“Friends stick together” Naomi and Ruth craft
Frames with dot paint. The girls are so creative!
Stick Puppet with children’s rights. We paired this craft with a lesson on children’s responsibilities and rights.
Excursion
We went to Higuay, where the Virgin Mary visited locals. She is named “Our Lady of Alta Gracia.” We visited the Basilica built to honor that event.
End of Campamento and Grad Party
Our end of camp party included celebrating our latest high school grads! And, Bon came to serve ice cream – what a treat.
So much more
The travelers took an excursion to Barahona. We visited the cloistered Carmelites on the Feast of Our Lady of Carmel at their new location. That location is very close to our new friend Carmel’s farm (long story) so we got to visit her family before Mass. And when we did get to Mass, there were a group of young men in front of us with English-Spanish Mass books. They were seminarians from Wisconsin!
Please check out the daily blogs for more details on each day.
THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT!
You make it special!!
Thank you to all donors. The Sisters are very conscientious and spend if all on the girls’ education and health.
Thank you to all crafters who came to “Cutting and Kitting Night” You are truly a blessing for camp. The girls love doing crafts!!
Thank you to Shelly Pomonis who organized a huge Zumba party and fundrasier for camp. She recruited 9 Zumba instructors. I wish I could have brought them all to camp. Their energy was through the roof.
Thank you to past travelers – the girls remember each of you and love the camp memories.
Thank you to Father Rick – your support from the pulpit moves people to support our unique mission.
Thank you to all St. Ed’s staff – especially, Mia, Mike, Mary Kay, Celeste, Linda, Andrew – each of you contributed to make this happen.
We’ll start recruiting again in January 2023. Hope to see you there!
Peace,
Ann
Campamento 2023 
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