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About Co-op Camp Sierra
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Since its founding
in 1938, Co-op Camp Sierra has become a vacation Mecca for
members of different types of cooperatives throughout California.
In part, camp’s longevity can be attributed to the amazing
setting--nearly a mile high in the Sierra National Forest,
about 50 miles southeast of Yosemite—but it’s really the people
and the program that make it such a unique, enduring experience. |
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Co-op Camp has something
for everyone. Families, single parent families, extended
families, and singles of all ages join together to create
a new community. One recent year there were 8 different
families at camp who had brought along 3 generations of
family members!
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For both affordability and
adventure, housing options range from “bring your own tent,”
to dormitories, rustic cabins, lodges, and relatively plush
duplex cabins. Family-style meals are served three times a
day in the camp dining hall, where vegetarian options are
always available. |
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Networking connections abound here, providing a fertile ground
for brainstorming such cooperative institutions as Associated
Cooperatives and the National Co-op Bank. And friendships
are forged among campers that keep them and their families
coming back year after year.
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Co-op Camp Sierra has longstanding
ties to the University Students Cooperative Association
in Berkeley (USCA). For the first years of camp, the students
of the USCA provided the food and cooked the meals for their
fellow campers. In 1989, to celebrate the 50th anniversary
of Co-op Camp, the USCA was once again asked to provide
their cooking services. They dazzled the campers with natural,
organic meals, and were asked to return the following year.
Those first meals are still enthused about almost 15 years
later!
The camp was originally
created to educate people about all forms of cooperation.
The primary educational focus is a morning discussion program
that explores environmental and social concerns as well
as teaching basic skills and tools for organizing and running
a co-op. Also in the spirit of cooperation (freeing up the
adults to participate in these inspiring sessions), camp
provides a morning activity program for children that keeps
them engaged in such activities as preschool, crafts, drama,
and sports.
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A few examples of recent morning discussion topics: The Rochdale
Principles of Cooperation, fundraising and financial planning,
developing an effective board, success stories from cooperatives
worldwide, parent participation preschool cooperatives, environmental
recycling, using the internet for community organizing, Expressive
Arts as a means to set personal and group goals, and “How to
Promote the Hellouta your Co-op.” |
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Typically afternoons are
either for napping, communing with nature, or participating
in a variety of camper-led activities such as crafts, sports,
horseback riding, boat rides, and hikes. “The Potholes”
are an amazing natural water slide and several swimming
holes--an experience not to be missed. Evenings are equally
engaging, featuring such institutions as volleyball, folk
dancing, campfire singing, outdoor barbeques (with tofu
steaks or soy burgers for the vegans), a bingo evening,
an auction (benefitting the campership fund), a carnival,
camper presentations (examples: a slideshow about a caravan
to Cuba; a video about cohousing communities), star walks,
a late-night crew compiling the daily camp newspaper, and
the ever-popular closing-night talent show.
A testimonial from an enthusiastic
repeat camper: “When I saw a couple of the best-looking
young guys in camp escorting one of their grandmothers to
the dining hall, I knew that I wanted my son to be a teenager
in this camp."
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Whether you’re a worker for the co-op, a manager, or a loyal
member/consumer, Co-op Camp Sierra offers an exciting and
affordable setting for a great family get-away. We hope you’ll
join us up the mountain, “Where Potholes are a good thing!”
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