Bement Camp and Conference Center

Contact: Rev. Jill Williams FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

jillwilliams@bementcenter.com Photos available

Camp office: 508 248-7811

Cell: 413 531-3263

GENERATIONS OF KIDS KEEP COMING BACK!

BEMENT CAMP AND CONFERENCE CENTER

CELEBRATES 60 YEARS!

WORCESTER/CHARLTON, MA - Bement Camp and Conference Center on Jones Pond in Charlton is celebrating its 60th Anniversary this year, and with it celebrating are several generations of campers that just can't stay away.

Suzy Guinan (nee Klump) of Worcester is one of those campers who never forgot Bement. Now living in England with her husband, who she met at Bement in 1988 when they were both counselors, Suzy returned to Worcester last weekend to send her two children to Day Camp program at Bement. "When I found out that Bement had a Day Camp program for younger children I organized my trip back home this summer so my children could attend," she said. Suzy was a yearly camper at Bement Camp starting in 1979 and continued to come back as a staff member. Now twenty years later, her children are attending the camp. "Besides being the place where I met my husband, there is something very special about Bement," Suzy said. "It is a place where I really felt accepted and that I belonged and I wanted that for my children too!"

Bement Camp is a caring, Christian community with the mission of sharing fun, fellowship, and faith. Campers from ages 6-18 spend time doing all the traditional "camp" sort of activities in Bement's 580 acres of woodland which includes two sports fields, a swimming pool, climbing wall, an extensive ropes course, hiking trails and a 25 acre private pond for canoeing and sailing. "As a kid, I loved swimming and canoeing but my favorite part was just hiking through the woods and playing in the waterfall in the Mill Stream."

Part of what makes Bement's experience so memorable for campers is the lack of outside distractions. There are no computers, no video games, the kids even have to do a work duty every morning to help maintain the camp and learn to live as part of a community. Camp Director Rev. Jill Williams says, "The world has changed a lot in the past 60 years, it has upgraded and it's a really different place for a child to be. At Bement Camp, kids are experiencing nature and outdoor education, imagination, self-sufficiency and independence - you can't get those from video games."

"Thirty years on from when I was a camper," Suzy continues, "Bement Camp hasn't changed a lot. All the traditional camp activities are still here and time seems to stand still. But, in a world that is moving TOO fast- I think it's a good thing for my kids."

The past 60 years have seen many campers become staff, staff become alumni and alumni send their children to camp, which is a testament to the great experience Bement provides. "It is exciting to see generation after generation of campers coming to Bement over the past 60 years," Jill remarks. "There is something special here and parents who came here as kids want their children to have the same special time too."

Click here for photo of Suzy's daughter having fun at Bement Camp

Click here for photo of Suzy's son swimming in the pool with Madge the Waterfront Director

Click here for photo canoeing on Jones Pond

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- Local stories available for Holden, Shrewsbury and Westfield

HOLDEN, MA - Rev. Jill Williams, Curate for St. Francis Episcopal Church in Holden, Massachusetts

Jill Williams is a prime example of Bement's ability to bring people back.

Jill was one of those campers who stayed at camp year after year until becoming a counselor. Now, she is serving the community as Camp Director. Jill first started attending Bement Camp at age seven. Twenty years she kept coming back, and now it's her joy to see that new generations have the same great experience.

Jill Williams is actually the Rev. Jill Barton Williams, curate for the St. Francis Episcopal Church in Holden. Jill is lots of fun and has a great heart for kids - the perfect Director for Bement Camp. As a seven year old in 1988 - she never could have thought she would be the director. She now talks about sending her own children there (when they come along).

"Bement Camp is a place where children can be sure of who they are," she says, "My dream is that Bement would be a place for children to come and learn to be kids again."

Jill goes on to say, "The world has changed a lot in the past 60 years, it has upgraded and it's a really different place for a child to be. At Bement Camp, kids are experiencing nature and outdoor education, imagination, self-sufficiency and independence - you can't get those from video games."

Click here for photo of Jill Williams

WESTFIELD, MA - "Gladwin" Head Chef, Bement Camp

Erik Gladwin, or simply "Gladwin" as he is known at Bement Camp is originally from Westfield and now lives in Spencer. Erik is on a 3-month leave from his job at Sodexo Corporate Food Service this summer, a leave he took for the purpose of returning to Bement once again. He has temporarily left a well paid job and benefits to come and work at camp for the summer.

"Gladwin" always has a smile on his face while working in the camp kitchen. He started coming to Bement as a camper in 1995 and started working in the kitchen 10 years ago. In fact, Gladwin learned how to cook at Bement. He started washing dishes at the age of 14 and then moved on to learning the ropes in the kitchen. Now 25 years old, he has gone on to complete an Associates Degree in Culinary Arts from Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island.

When asked why he keeps coming back to Bement, Erik simply said, "I like it here!"

"In this day and age most kids don't understand what a real community is," he continued. "At Bement Camp we are living it out. Most kids are involved in an online community that can be just switched off. It's a shame that they can't and don't get to experience the type of interactions that used to be the norm."

Click here for photo of Gladwin

SHREWSBURY, MA- "Madge", Waterfront Director, Bement Camp

Margaret Swartwout, "Madge" as she is known at Bement, is originally from Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. A devoted Bement-er she travels 1029 miles every summer to come to summer camp. Her family moved to Wisconsin when she was 11 years old but she continued to travel back east every summer to be a camper and now returns as a counselor.

When asked why she says, "Its home! It's the only place I can totally feel safe to be who I want to be. Back home, I'm the quiet, shy kid who never wants to talk." In Wisconsin, you'd never know that at camp the 22-year-old Madge is the formidable Director of the Waterfront who is commonly heard shouting, "All boats in!" across the pond.

Madge thinks her experience at Bement has helped her relate to all sorts of people. "At school in a town like Shrewsbury everybody has relatively the same background," she said. "At Bement Camp, everybody is different and you have to figure out a way to live together with people who are different." Madge continued, "Learning how NOT to put up barriers and make quick judgments early in life is clutch (key)!"

Click here for photo of the "formidable Director of the Waterfront"

Click here for photo of Madge as Super Women

WORCESTER, MA- Nurse Wendy, Bement Camp

Wendy Piscitelli of Worcester, Massachusetts is the Middle/High School Nurse at Abbey Kelly Foster Public Charter School during the school year. In the summer she becomes the beloved "Camp Nurse Wendy."

Wendy started coming to Bement as the camp nurse in 2000 after her two sons were campers and then staff. Her cousin, also from Worcester, was a camper and then counselor at Bement Camp from the 1970's to the 80's sent her son, Nicholas to Bement Camp this week.

"Nicholas is having a fantastic adventure here," Wendy said. "He looks forward to it all year. His two sisters were already at camp earlier this summer and they are already looking forward to coming back next year."

Wendy loves the place so much that she looked for a School Nurse position so she could keep coming back every summer. She said,"I like working here even if I have to stay up all night with a sick or homesick child."

As a member of the Board of Directors for Bement Camp and Conference Center she recognizes the importance of the summer camp in this day and age. She says, "Children are programmed to death and bombarded with technology. Bement Camp is a place where they can be themselves and be safe. Bement is a gem!"

Click here for photo of Nurse Wendy