Partner’s Service Days are a great opportunity to model volunteering to your family and to introduce friends to camp.

April 21st Partner’s Service Day

We typically have several projects for the day to allow you a little flexibility in where you pitch in.  Projects range from planting flowers and trees to light construction or demolition.  We meet-and-greet at 9:00am in the Lake Village Scheumann parking lot.  The projects are explained and then we divide and conquer.   We meet at noon for lunch and then re-group to finish projects.

Lunch time group photo at the April 21st Partner’s Service Day

Join us for as much of the day as your schedule allows.  We are usually cleaned up by 4:00pm.  Please contact Vince Pattengale at vincep@camptecumseh.org if you have any questions and to let us know how many will be attending.  It is always a good time.

We had a strong storm system move through in the past hour. Everybody is safe here at camp, we quickly had everyone moved to storm shelters approximately 30-40 minutes before it even reached us. The storm is past now and Camp didn’t sustain any major damage. Thanks for all the prayers and concerns!!!

Camp’s phone system is currently down. We are currently working on getting back up and running. If you have any immediate problems, please send an email to info@camptecumseh.org. Thanks for your Patience!!!

By Katie

Erie cabin

Tecumseh Times Staff Reporter

Ivan Wawelo showed love for his country by singing the national anthem of Uganda during lunch Thursday at Lake Village. He’s come a long way from his home country.

Ivan is a counselor in Wea cabin this summer – his first time at Camp Tecumseh, though he’s had a long relationship with camp.

From 1995 until 2007, camp’s World Service program helped pay for Ivan’s education and items such as mosquito nets to keep him from getting malaria. This YMCA program helps children and families in the United States and around the world who may be victims of disasters or difficult political situations.

As he led a soccer clinic this week, Ivan said Camp Tecumseh has changed his life.

“It gave me a future,” said the 25-year-old. Without the financial support he received over 12 years, “I would be nothing. I don’t know where I would be.”

Ivan arrived in the spring to work with camp’s outdoor education department, which he will do this fall before leaving. His wife Tara is working for camp as an administrative assistant.

Ivan has enjoyed getting to know the “real” American culture, which is different from what you see on TV.

“Not everyone lives in a skyscraper,” Ivan said. “People here suffer, they cry, they have problems, too.”

He doesn’t expect to return as a staff member but would like to visit. He and his wife will be returning to California.

Campers had a chance this week to donate to World Service funds by buying tickets in the morning at breakfast or at Day Camp. Last year, campers donated about $5,000, said Tom Elliot, outdoor education department director.

Camp has been participating in world service since the late 1940s, said camp Executive Director Dave Wright.

Camp Tecumseh is currently sponsoring two kids: Douglas from Ghana and Irene from Kenya.

By Emily

Seminole cabin

Tecumseh Times Staff Reporter

Erin Drews is marrying Tim Pagano from Cheyenne?!

Not really, but I got your attention, huh?

That “engagement” is just a running joke between Erin and Tim, who say they “argue like an old married couple.”

Erin is from Elkhart, Indiana, and 20 years old. She went to Elkhart Central High School and is a junior at Hope College in Michigan, majoring in English and communications and minoring in art.

And this is her first summer at Camp Tecumseh; she’s a counselor in the Paiute cabin in Lake Village. She heard about camp from her sister, Annie Drews, who has been a Day Camp counselor.

She also thinksshe is good at accents, but she is actually really bad at them, as you will soon find out from talking to her for a few minutes and listening to her French, Southern and Jersey accents.

She is also afraid of mascots, so if you have a mascot uniform, wear it around Erin to scare her!

Every day when something cool happens to her campers, she loves it, and she feels it renews her purpose here.

As she says, “I love camp. And God has just blessed me here.”

Erin has some advice for campers: “The great Mark Twain said there is two important days in a man’s life: the day you’re born, and the day you find out why. Keep holding out until you find out why.”