It's hard to beat those 85 degree, blue sky summer days. But on Derek and JD's recent trip up to Manitou, the colorful scenery put up a good argument as to which season is the best in Maine. See the pics below...

So many great memories from the summer!

Below are snapshots of just a few...login to your myManitou account to see a lot more!

We are proud to report the success of our inaugural Swim-a-thon to benefit the Manitou Experience camp for children who have lost a loved one - www.manitouexperience.org.
When our senior campers decided to organize a swim-a-thon as part of their Leadership Program, we never imagined that our campers and staff would so eagerly embrace this project. Manitou campers swam 20,365 laps, despite losing most of the second-session to rain. We got 100% participation from our first-session and full-session campers - with 18 campers swimming at least 250 laps. The outpouring of effort by Manitou campers and staff to help others made us so proud to be part of this mission.

There are plenty of opportunities to get involved with the Manitou Experience. Please contact either Bob - Waldo - Waldstein (alumni@campmanitou.com) or Sara Deren (sara@campmanitou.com) for more information about getting involved. You can donate via credit card or paypal online at www.manitouexperience.org, or send a check to the Manitou Camps Foundation; 119 W. 72nd St. #107 NY, NY 10023.

The new Camp Eastwood facility, located just around the corner from Manitou, which hosts the programs Acting Manitou and Camp MoveIT, had a wonderful first season. This brand new campus designed for the performing arts ran for 9 weeks. Acting Manitou runs a 3-week session and 12-day session and will be doing so again in 2009. Camp MoveIT runs two, 2-week sessions. For info on each of the programs, please visit their websites at www.actingmanitou.com and www.campmoveit.com.

The extensive Manitou winter program will once again feature the Ski Trip and Walk on Water Trip in early 2009. The ski trip will be at Mt. Snow, VT from January 16th to the 19th. Campers and staff will be staying in the ski in- ski out lodge at the base of Mt. Snow. This long holiday weekend will bring Manitou campers and staff together for a fun filled trip of skiing, hot tubbing and some exciting playoff football. An application for the trip can be found on the camp website in the Forms section. The spots fill on a first-come, first-serve basis (the 2008 trip sold out). The Walk on Water Trip (W.O.W) is held at Manitou from February 20th to the 22nd. Campers and staff will get the unique opportunity to enjoy some of their favorite camp activities, in the snow - and lots of it! The trip last winter saw the most snow Manitou has had in years. To see what the last trip was like, check out the pics in the Blog. The application can also be found in the Forms section of the camp website and fills on a first-come, first serve basis.

The Manitou family will be expanding next summer to include a 5 month old... Thats right, JD and I are expecting our first on January 31, 2009. If you see JD at one of the Manitou winter events, please remind him he has to change the diapers too :)

Look forward to seeing you all again next summer,

Sara

The mission of the Manitou Leadership Program is to effectively educate young adults on the important aspects of leadership and engage them in their community upon what they have learned. Among the goals set forth for the program this summer were: lead an event for younger kids, create and implement a service project that improved the quality of the physical surrounding at camp, and organize and promote a fundraising project for the Manitou Experience camp. Our Leadership participants chose to do a Swim-a-thon. Manitou Experience is a one-week camp for children who have suffered a family loss. The camp is entirely free and is funded entirely by donations to the Manitou Camps Foundation, a 501c3 charity. Our camper efforts in the Swim-a-thon helped raise money to send children to the camp in 2009. All of us at Manitou are very proud of what the Leadership Program has done.

The CIT Program developed a more formal curriculum this summer to guide our campers through the transition of going from camper to counselor. The program has a few specific goals in mind. Each goal was allotted set periods of the day for development. The key topics and skills include: teaching kids an activity skill, supervising a cabin of kids, and running an activity for younger campers.

Documents on both of these programs can be found in the Forms section of the camp website.

Check the link on the left hand side of the Blog (this page) to check out all the old Manitou "Magazine" website covers...each month we will update as a new one is added.

More than 1000 5-Year Camper Bars are up in Alumni Hall. Thanks to Bill Cole for creating this display which already spans 1/3 of the way around the gym!

Our video team is hard at work putting the finishing touches on the highlights DVD for the summer. The DVD will shipped to you in October. You will see footage from all your favorite Manitou activities: College League, Color War, Trips, Special Events, Evening Activities and more...includes a preview of all the Manitou winter events.

The 2008 Manitou Magic poster and calendar will be in your mailbox soon, if you have not received already. Let the countdown to next summer begin...