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Camp Sierra boasts 10 acres of grounds featuring trails to streams and waterfalls, a swimming hole, a baseball field, volleyball, horseshoes, ping-pong, a playground, a large central lawn, and many spots to "get away from it all." Near camp are lake swimming, boating, horseback riding, fishing, hiking, and some of the most breathtaking scenery in the Sierras. Facilities include lodge buildings (each housing 6-8 families in private rooms), limited rustic cabins, spacious dorms, and a campground for "bring your own tent" camping. There are numerous meeting spaces, a dining hall, a recreation hall, crafts buildings, a large playground, a camp store, and coin-operated washers and dryers. A week at Camp Sierra is a comfortable and pleasant way of "roughing it" -- with no meals to fix or dishes to wash. The dining hall serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Meals are family style, and everyone busses their own dishes. The camp store sells snacks. Natural beauty abounds nearby: Shaver and Huntington Lakes, Mushroom Rock, Music Mountain, Kirkoff Dome, Mono Hot Springs, the John Muir Trail, Florence Lake, Nellie Lake, and Twin Lakes. Campers will organize outings to explore many of these wonders and other local options, including the Big Creek swimming pool, touring the Big Creek power plant, and horseback riding near Huntington Lake. In recent years we've also been visited by representatives of the Mono Indian Nation, sharing with us their history, basket-making lore, and drumming circles. After 60 years, 20,000 campers can't be wrong! Come join us for a special week.
Co-op Camp becomes a village where newcomers feel welcome. Families, seniors, children, teenagers, and singles (including single parents) come together for fun, sun, and fresh air. Here at Co-op Camp friendships begin and community is created! Camp has always had at its core
the idea of cooperation. This has been most evident in the morning
discussion circles, where the presentations and discussions have
covered a wide range of relevant topics including: In past years the cooperative spirit has
also provided the foundation for our afternoon recreation program
and evening events. Camp has relied on the experience and enthusiasm
of campers to organize such events as: However, in the absence of full-time year-round staff, we've come to rely extensively on camper participation. So we're asking each camper age 11 and older to put in 5 hours of work toward our common goal: two fun-filled weeks of family camp that are also educational, inspiring, and brimming with the spirit of cooperation. Some tasks will require skill and experience, others merely a willingness to pitch in -- we'll have projects available for all ages and all abilities. Campers who choose to NOT put in 5 hours will not qualify for the $50 member discount. We understand that some campers are willing to pitch in, but would prefer to relax during their time up on the mountain ... so we are offering the option of putting in these hours either at camp, or ahead of time (we always need a lot of advance preparation assistance). So when you send in your registration forms, be sure to specify what kind of tasks you'd like to help with -- and whether you'd like to do your work hours ahead of time, or when we're together at camp. We'll call those of you who want to get started early, and check in with the rest of you at registration.
DISCUSSION CIRCLES, a unique feature of Co-op Camp, are held every morning in an outdoor circle. Our Resource People lead campers in stimulating discussions on issues such as environmental concerns, community building, and cooperative living. A CHILDREN'S PROGRAM, featuring crafts and special events, is available for children of pre-school age through the pre-teen years. The program is offered each weekday morning, from 9 a.m. til noon. To cover the cost of supplies for the week, we ask a donation of $5 per child, and parents are asked to help one morning per week. OUR KIDS SPORTS PROGRAM is geared toward teenagers and any younger children not interested in the crafts program. This hugely successful program will be offered each weekday morning, and on occasional afternoons, supervised by an adult coordinator. A donation of $5 per child is asked for purchasing additional sports equipment. AFTERNOONS are the time for swimming, sports, games, reading, music, hiking, nature study, boating ... or just plain quiet time. Hikes or walks are organized by the recreation coordinator for those who want to see nearby sites. TEEN PROGRAM has become a camp institution, with adult supervision available most times, day or night. The focus ranges from cooperative games, to how to communicate better, doing work projects, going on outings, and discussions about the meaning of life ... you name it. Most weeks the teen scene culminates in a Teen Forum, attended by teens and a similar number of adults (including some of their parents, usually), where the two groups ask each other questions about such things as values held, lessons learned, and advice on how to handle a variety of challenging situations. EVENINGS are the time for a rousing volleyball game, campfire sing, folk dancing, production of the camp newspaper, an auction, or popular games like bingo, Trivial Pursuit, and charades. In recent years, musical campers have created pick-up bands for dancing ... bring your sax or your "axe"! One evening each week features a fun-filled ALL-CAMP CARNIVAL that is geared to campers of all ages -- and lots of prizes are awarded to skilled performers. Creative new booths are encouraged! At the end of each week comes the traditional TALENT SHOW, providing great fun for all, and bringing out hidden talents from the campers. SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS: We also help establish support groups to address campers' needs and interests. Past groups have included: single parents', women's, men's, youth, and family issues; 12-step meetings; third world development; and campers interested in "creating community." We encourage campers to suggest their own support group topics, and are open to almost any that come up. MORNING DISCUSSION: Some of the most popular activities at camp are the optional morning discussion circles which: Acquaint campers with examples of successful co-ops in the U.S. and around the world. Foster and deepen friendships. Teach the value of cooperation and "Economics as if People Mattered." Each week, resource people lead discussions in a variety of topic areas. This year each week will have sessions on building a sense of community where one works and where one lives, including sessions on co-ops & ecology, parents & preschools; cooperative housing, community organizing, and much more. WORKSHOPS FROM PRIOR
YEARS
EXPRESSIVE ARTS SESSIONS - Expressive arts is a creative process helping groups and communities to build connections and to energize, empower, and ignite new ideas and solutions--at its core a cooperative process. Any creative activity--whether it is dancing, playing music, drawing or writing--gets the energy flowing in your body, and triggers some important areas of the brain that can assist in creative thinking and problem solving. Not only does it make you feel good, it actually stimulates new ways of thinking and looking at oneself and the rest of the world. It is also a great way to open up dialogue and communication. All processes will be offered in a person-centered approach, which encourages each individual to participate in a way that feels comfortable for them. Anin Utigaard is a Registered Expressive Arts Therapist, a Faculty member of the Person-Centered Expressive Therapy Institute, and co-founder for the International Expressive Arts Therapy Association (IEATA). HOW TO PROMOTE THE HELLOUTTA' YOUR CO-OP, For Cheap ... or Even For Free! YOU know that your co-op or nonprofit group is doing good work for the community ... but does the community know it?! How do you get publicity for your worthy cause when you are too busy working on the project? And how do you get publicity with little or no money for expensive advertising? Jim Ellinger will share 20 years of tricks of the trade when it comes to getting free press for your co-op or group. Bring your questions. COOPERATIVES IN THE "STANS": Join World Wide Wanderer Jim Ellinger as he shares stories of his recent adventures doing consulting for cooperatives in such far-flung locales as Kazakhstan ("the Texas of Central Asia"), Kyrgystan (described by the New York Times as one of the "most unknown countries in the world..."), Kiev, Odesa, Moscow and Volgograd (the former Stalingrad of WWII) and other cities of the former Soviet Union ... plus Kathmandu, Nepal, and Mozambique! Visit jim.ellinger.org for details. CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT STRATEY USING CONSENSUS DECISION MAKING: As a former classroom teacher, Linda Sartor has developed a consensus decision-making strategy with her students that is truly radical and politically subversive--it teaches children to speak up and take responsibility for their environment. Linda and co-author Molly Brown have been working on a book about this strategy, and will soon be releasing a self-published edition. HANDLING WILDERNESS EMERGENCIES: What do you do when you get an "ouchie" when you are deep in the woods? What do you do when that ouchie is more serious? Paramedic Karen Horan will share 15 years of experience in dealing with emergency medical issues, including how to identify poisonous plants, animals, and people! EXPLORING SCIENCE & NATURE: adult and children sessions. Camilla Barry: For the past several years, I've shared my passion about science and nature with other inquiring minds at coop camp. The sessions have included making soap, making portable sundials and understanding how they work, making felt, looking for pillbugs and other critters...I have many ideas for this summer, but haven't finalized the projects yet. Some of them will be projects I taught in Afghanistan, others will make use of the natural surroundings at Co-op Camp, others will attempt to be intellectually stimulating for the older set. Please come and explore with us! And, if you have ideas before camp, please let me know! I will consider any topic. WALKING THE STREETS OF KABUL: Camilla Barry tells "What I learned while teaching science last summer in Afghanistan...and why I plan to return this July." While there, she walked the streets exploring many parts of the city, talking to all sorts of Afghans. There were booksellers, teachers who braved the Taliban to teach girls secretly, tea shop owners, policemen, money-changers, liberal intellectuals, street children, university students, past Taliban members, illiterate import-exporters with more than one wife, wives who shared husbands, girls who chose happily to wear burkas, young women who called me "girlfriend" in a teasing friendship. I would love to share their stories and how they prized America's friendship and long for a free country with fair elections. INTERNATIONAL PEACE ACTIVISM IN SRI LANKA: Linda Sartor has for years been a resident of Monan's Rill, a rural community outside of Santa Rosa, CA that was founded in 1973 based on Quaker principles. In recent years she's become involved with the Nonviolent Peaceforce, an organization with a mission to create a trained, international civilian nonviolent peaceforce that maintains a presence in conflict areas--to prevent death and destruction and protect human rights, thus creating the space for local groups to struggle nonviolently, enter into dialogue, and seek peaceful resolution. Linda's work has taken her to Sri Lanka numerous times in 2003 and 2004, and she will share an account of what she's seen and done on those visits. ENVIRONMENTAL RECYCLING - Victor Aguiar offers workshops on recycling in communities and in business. Victor is the Research Director for Ecology Action, a non-profit waste reduction and recycling consulting agency based in Santa Cruz. He has implemented community waste reduction programs, working mostly with businesses and institutions under government contract, including those with the State of California, the counties of Santa Cruz, Monterey, and San Benito, and the cities of Santa Cruz, San Francisco, and Watsonville. Victor is an expert in creating successful waste reduction programs, in packaging alternatives, and in community education. INTENTIONAL COMMUNITIES - A bird's eye view of ICs across this country. Geoph Kozeny has lived in communities of one kind or another for 31 years. He has been on the road for the past 16 years visiting communities of all stripes -- getting involved in the daily routine of each group, asking about their visions and realities, taking photos and slides and videos, and giving shows about the diversity and vitality of the communities movement. He made a full-length video documentary about these communities, and is now working to edit volume #2. He also loves kids, juggling, card games, and silly songs. .Video Info |
