Camp Delta 8 | Staff Thank You

I'm sorry it's taken me so long to finally write a thank you post. I'm currently on a long-awaited vacation post-Camp Delta lol. I'd like to thank each and every one of you for making my dream come true with this past weekend.

When I first attended camp in 2012, I held back and didn't break out of my shell. I was too reserved and didn't make any effort to bond with my family or counselors. Never did I realize I'd one day have the benefit of becoming an actual Camp Delta director.

I came back in 2013 as an assistant counselor to further my growth and to have a family of my own. Overall it was great, but I felt like I hadn't met my goal of breaking out of my introverted habits. So the following year, for Camp Delta 2014, I forced myself to get out of my comfort zone and be the counselor I knew I'd have to be. I wanted to be the counselor I needed when I was an attendee. Because I gave myself a personal challenge, I was able to actually form a bond with my family and it ended up being the very first year I actually cried at camp. I didn't know I wanted to be Camp Director until the very end of camp last year. I was so happy and proud of all the hard work, relationships, and tears of joy, I knew I didn't want to stop.

When I became Camp Director I had just a few goals in mind: make the best camp ever by making camp longer (from 3 days to 4 days), forming more bonds through sister families, and bringing back workshops.

Last year's camp was extremely competitive between families, which is one of the reasons why the sister family program and workshops idea were used to quell the competitive atmosphere. I wanted to emphasize that camp is about personal growth and learning, not about competition. And also, making camp an extra day longer, with the addition of sister families, allowed attendees to bond even more.

It makes me so happy to hear the positive feedback regarding all of these changes. Camp is an event that is constantly growing and changing. Just like any VSA event, you can't repeat the same things over and over again and expect success.

Camp Delta has made me a better person, and I would not be the person I am today if it hadn't been for Camp. I'm more confident now as a leader. I'm more goal-oriented. It allows me to make new friends and form new bonds every year. Please don't take Camp Delta for granted. It's something special that we all share together.

And none of this would've been possible had I not had an amazing team working alongside me. This has truly been the best Camp Delta staff I'd ever seen - and I'm not exaggerating. When they joined staff, I already knew they were strong leaders. But man, oh man, they totally blew my expectations out of the water. Everything went above and beyond my wildest dreams. I knew I wanted this to be a Disney-themed camp, but staff pushed the boundaries of what a Disney-themed camp could be. All of the decorations were top notch. Hospitality put so much love into anything they did - whether it was the thousands of Mickey-shaped notes that they cut BY HAND, or the hundred boxes they painted from brown to white. Logistics never once complained when the programming would change last minute at camp. They were always willing to adapt to whatever was necessary. They were always one step ahead. Cuisine didn't settle for basic foods, but rather fancy, high-class gourmet food. Media gave up all their sleep to provide the most videos they'd ever put out for camp. Marketing continues to grow and they had the most successful and effective social media campaign ever put out probably in the entirety of VSA history.

I hope you guys know how much your counselors fought for you guys. Any time the programming went over schedule, and when we considered canceling certain activities or events, they fought for you guys to have the opportunity to finish. They believed in you and felt you all deserved it.

I've never seen such a passionate and caring staff before in my life. Every night during camp debriefs, they would cry for you guys while telling us your stories. The final camp debrief when camp was over was the worst cry-fest. Not one person on staff wasn't sobbing and crying their eyes out for you guys. You've all touched their hearts as much as they did yours. And love and sweat and tears that went into this event, over 8 months in the making, it's truly unique.

So thank you guys. Thank you staff. This was the most amazing experience of my life. And to thank you even more, I spent the past few hours today quickly editing footage I took on my phone during our meetings all year long. I couldn't help but cry re-living these memories and seeing how much hard work you all put into this. And all of this created an even stronger bond between us. All the long hours and late nights were worth it. Again, thank you.