The Fight For Innocence
In 1993, I was a young risk-management professional presenting my first child sexual-abuse seminar to a youth organization in the Midwest. The content of the talk was based on the insurance industry’s
Rest Insured
The role of insurance is vital to your camp’s overall risk management plan because it provides the resource needed to fund the losses a camp may incur.
Ready, Set, Slide!
What do 214 feet of pure, liquid awesomeness feel like when it’s 105 degrees outside and you’re zooming downhill with your arms stretched out like Superman, being sprayed by a hundred streaming water spouts and landing in a bodacious, cataclysmic splashdown?
Camp--The Final Frontier
I slept well last night as the rain fell against the composite shingles of the roof, down the aluminum gutters, and out through the storm drain.
Managing Risk
Managing risk—these are perhaps two of the most dreaded words in a camp director’s dictionary, rivaled only by the nickname, “Fun-Sucker.” From the onset, the very phrase seems
Caring For The Canopy
Trees—they’re everywhere! And that’s good thing! Unfortunately, just as water, snow, mud, critters, and plants provide both benefits and threats, trees pose the same to camps and their patrons.
Rules To Blob By
We camp people are a strange lot. We involve ourselves in discussions using terms such as blob, blobbing, blobber, blobbee, and then expect people to take us seriously.
When Lightning Strikes
Lightning is truly an awesome display and a wonder to behold! But, like most of nature’s elements, it has both beneficial and hazardous aspects.
Summer Staff Medical Claims
While the country wrestles over health-care reform and the Affordable Care Act, camps around the country are beginning to feel the front-line impact of the “not-so-well-known” reforms that have already taken place.
Incident Reports
At some point in time, a handshake and a nod were sufficient in order to “seal the deal,” and to stick to it. Well, that time has seemingly passed due to the increasing trend of Americans who effortlessly use the legal system as a means to resolve disputes—however large or small.
The Dirty Dozen
Just as quickly as the summer camp season began, it ended—only to be relived over and over in the stories and pictures filling conversations and flooding social media.
Operation CleanSweep
Visit any camp website and you’ll see evidence of the fun and excitement that children experience all summer long. There is no greater joy as a parent than to see pictures of a child hanging out with camp friends, skiing behind a boat, or climbing a rock wall.
The Cement Pond
I recently watched one of the early episodes of the Beverly Hillbillies, where Jethro schemes to put an alligator in the cement pond to scare away all of Ellie Mae’s “critters.”
Up In Smoke!
Camp fire—two words that initiate almost a physiological response that causes mouths to water, faces to smile, ears to listen, and palms to sweat while dreaming of s’mores, smoke, singing, and laughter.
Child-Abuse Prevention
Historically, when it comes to state laws dealing with child-abuse prevention initiatives, there are two that typically take center stage:
Untangling The Knot
Ask any camp owner to name the biggest headaches in camp management, and workers’ compensation (“work comp”) will undoubtedly be in the top 10. Under the category of items
Kanakuk Child Protection Seminar Coming To Kentucky
Join Rick Braschler in discussing a serious topic that affects every camp--protecting children from predators.
Use of Drones In Camp Settings
The use of drones in the camping setting, both from staff as well as campers, has been on the rise over the past few years.
Create An Emergency Response Team
Winter break means Mission Trips for many youth serving organizations throughout the country. Unfortunately, lack of planning results in poor responses from many youth leaders both on the prevention side, as well as the crisis response.