Week Two began on Sunday, July 16th, with children coming from Arizona, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, and Canada. As the week went on, campers were excited to spend time with their old friends and with their new ones. For those returning to Week Four, the week back at home will no doubt be filled with plans and discussion of the coming week.

Campers continued to have classes throughout the week: music, kolo, arts and crafts, and religion. Since we had a big group of dancers, we had kolo class three times instead of twice! We had parents and counselors involved in some friendly competition with the campers. Counselors and campers played in both the basketball tournament and the volleyball tournament. During the Kumovi Olympics, the parents were able to beat the campers with a record time of eight minutes! At the Friday night dance, we were surprised with a performance of last year’s Vlaške Igre by our returning 4th week campers and some of last season’s seniors, who have new roles as counselors!

We were blessed to have Father Vedran Garbic and Father Branislav Golic as our second-week priests. They offered amazing insight into the Orthodox Religion through videos, PowerPoint slides, and a fun game of jeopardy! Counselors would overhear their campers talk about what they had learned about religion during free time. Thank you, Father Vedran and Father Branislav, for having a positive impact on the campers’ learning.

Camp continues to run successfully under the leadership of Teta Millie, Teta Dee Dee, Teta Marija, and Rudley Mrvos. We are grateful for their devotion and love for camp, as it allows for campers, counselors, and volunteers to enjoy their time here.

We appreciate all of the volunteers that come to help and allocate their time to camp. We want to thank the lovely group of women who worked in the kitchen and made sure we were never left hungry! There was much work to be done in and around the camp and church, and we are extremely grateful for the dads who helped: Peter Chuk, Donovan Tremblay, Vuk Cvetkovic-Lazic, Michael Milanovich, and Steve Capuzzi. In addition to their regular duties, they were seen from morning until night completing extensive repairs and maintenance throughout camp and church:

• Edged all sidewalks
• Trimmed the trees
• Built new seesaws
• Fixed the basketball hoops
• Created our new Shadeland sign
• Repaired the golf cart

The exceptional team of counselors was led by Head Counselor Stana Topich. These young adults were excellent role models to the campers, and their love of this camp shines through in all they do. They were eager to bond with their campers and provide the best time possible.

We are now halfway through the 2023 season, which means we only have two more weeks left! We will be ending the Shadeland season with our Shadeland Most Holy Mother of God Monastery Estate Slava and the End of Camp Season celebration on Saturday, August 5th. Please join us for Divine Liturgy and the Picnic that day! There will be a performance with singing, dancing, and musical entertainment to follow.