Community: What it means to me to be a part of the Frost Valley Family

11/09/2016

Frost Valley is a community built on love and our core values. We stand for respect, caring, honesty, responsibility, stewardship, diversity, inclusiveness, and community for all people. For all people.

Being a part of this community is a special thing, and the core values are what drew me to the YMCA movement many years ago. Being a part of the Frost Valley YMCA movement, has made more of an impact on me than I ever thought possible. Our commitment to these values, and our intentional implementation of them in our programming every day, for every person, has guided me to become a stronger, more intentional leader. What I try to do each day, and what I’ve committed my life to, is providing children a safe place to learn about themselves, build relationships, solve healthy conflict, relate to people with differences, and learn how to care. That is how I can contribute to my community, and I thank my campers for inspiring me to do so. Our campers are some of the most caring, positive, change agents in this world. I’m convinced of it 🙂

Many people describe our community as being a big family. I believe this as well. We are a loving community. We share stories and provide guidance to one another. We hug each other when times are hard and try to lift one another up. We cheer each other on and encourage each other’s dreams. But the part that makes us such a strong and unique family is our differences. Each one of us bring to camp our own experiences and perspectives, and each one of us leaves with a better understanding of someone who’s experiences and perspectives are different from our own. We celebrate these differences, encourage each other to share and discuss differences, and coach our youth through navigating some of these differences as well.

I am proud of this community. I am honored to be a part of it. I am humbled constantly by the amazing youth that are part of this community. I encourage all of my campers to continue to embrace each other’s differences, support each other through hardships, and spread the values that we practice at Frost Valley throughout your communities at home.

Once you become part of our family, you are part of it for life. Thank you for being part of my community.

Ubuntu, I am because we are.

Peace, Love, Bibbley,

Lindsay

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nick Lomauro

Nick Lomauro is a lifetime lover of camp (overnight and day), outdoor recreation, and value-based programs. Nick grew up in the YMCA and discovered his passion for working in youth development as a summer camp counselor. Full of curiosity, Nick graduated from Montclair State University with a degree in General Humanities. Immediately following graduation Nick set off to Spain to hike the 500 mile ancient pilgrimage trail, El Camino de Santiago. Nick then returned to his childhood YMCA in NJ, of over 20 thousand members, as the Director of Youth Development. In this role he designed, developed, and implemented day camp and teen programs. In 2015, Nick returned to Frost Valley and he is now the Director of Camp Wawayanda. This is Nick's 16th summer at Frost Valley.