Family Day at Camp Esperanza is a very special time of the year for Dixie Style as we visit with the kids. We are able to interact with the kids and participate in the games and activities. At age 16 the campers graduate from Camp Esperanza. The poem below was written this year by a camper spending her last year at camp. She read this to the campers, counselors, parents and Dixie Style members that were visiting on Family Day. It is an outstanding example of how these special kids grow to love Camp Esperanza.
Land owned by the John Mark staff stands 20 cabins in the dark. Each cabin holding room for 10 star campers, not up there, the 5 figure shaped stars.... I'm talking about you!
You light up this week for others, too tired to realize they are asleep. For their first day was no ordinary, but positively the unexpected best day of their lives.
Some come by bus, other by car, to here, where they are....
AT CAMP ESPERANZA!
To have fun, find hope...cuz' that's what 'Esperanza' means. To make new friends, but never to forget to remember the older ones.
To smile, to laugh, to even cry, no one goes home without a week of smiles.
To play around and tease the counselors.
But as time flies it is time to say good-bye; from the first one the first year to the last as seniors.
And as we roll back on wheels to our home, I know that each of us has a special place for their memories of Camp Esperanza... Cuz' I know, I do.... And I will.