SHEHAQUA FAMILY NEWS

Register Now or Pay More

This Tuesday, June 30, is the last day for paying the discounted fee for Shehaqua Family Camp. On July 1 camp fees will go up. Mailed checks need to be postmarked by July 1 to qualify for the discount; you can find the mailing address here. Email the registrar, Haydee Ching, about any questions at [email address redacted].

Shehaqua Independent from Sanctuary Church

A number of people have approached us recently and asked if there is any connection between the Shehaqua Family and the Sanctuary Church. The answer is no, Shehaqua is not associated with the Sanctuary Church in any way. Members of the Sanctuary Church are welcome to participate in Shehaqua programs, just like anyone else, and the same rules that applies to everyone also apply to them: We do not allow public promotion or printed advertising of another organization or organization's events (Unification-Church-related or not) at Shehaqua Family programs.

Shehaqua Family is an independent, grassroots organization inspired by the life and ministry of Rev. and Mrs. Sun Myung Moon. As a group of Unificationist families, we are proud to welcome people of all faiths and are not affiliated with any particular group or denomination. We are financially self-sufficient, run by unpaid volunteers, and we elect our own leaders and officials from among our volunteers.

Coming to Camp for the First Time?

You might find these links useful:

• Learn more about the facilities
• Get the directions to Camp Shehaqua in Hickory Run State Park
• Find out what to bring
• Learn about the daily schedule
• Watch videos from previous Family Camps

Shehaqua at 20 (Part III):
Adding New Programs and Adjusting to Changing Demographics

From 2005 through 2009, three weeks of Shehaqua Family Camp were held each year. It was during those years that camp attendance numbers peaked. In 2005, we registered the highest attendance of all years, with all three weeks filled to capacity. Both 2006 and 2007 also saw total attendance numbers above 400 for Shehaqua Family Camp. Service projects offered to Hickory Run State Park included improving paths with gravel and wood chips, bush trimming, painting buildings, and adding sand to the volleyball court. In 2006, we had a young adult—as opposed to an older parent—direct one week of Family Camp for the first time. In the same year we assembled, painted, and donated 3 picnic tables, and created a sandbox next to the infirmary.

In Week 2 of 2007 we held a dodgeball tournament instead of the Family Challenge. The first tournament was nail-biting, and the tradition of the winning team serving ice cream got its beginning then.

A small weekend program was started in the summer camp in 2009, taking advantage of a previously unused day between two weeks of camp. Over the next years his weekend program would grow into a popular program, offering working parents an opportunity to bring their families to camp without having to take time off from work. We now call this program Weekend 1.5 or Weekend 2.5, depending on which week it follows.

2010 saw both expansion and contraction. A new program—the first Spring Gathering— was held at the Mineral Resorts in northern New Jersey as a leadership seminar. The weekend program in summer almost doubled in size. The Harvest Festival, a small program with a few educational talks and a hoedown, was expanded to include crafts—such as pumpkin carving and candle dipping—and a live band with a professional caller for the hoedown. The Winter Retreat, previously a high school youth camp, was opened up to families for the first time. But Week 3 of Shehaqua Family Camp in summer had to be cancelled due to low registration numbers.

The 2011 Spring Gathering was changed into an adventure weekend with whitewater rafting and a paintball trip. The spring planning meeting at Camp Shehaqua was canceled so that the camp could be used as the base for the Spring Gathering. Since we had to cancel Week 3 in 2010, the rangers of Hickory Run State Park did not grant our request to get Week 3 back for 2011, and therefore we again only had two weeks of Family Camp that summer. Dodgeball had by now replaced the traditional Family Challenge night, but many people missed the latter. Trying to make room for both in our schedule we held a Family Fun Night on the same night as the dodgeball tournament for the first time. As part of our service project, we built the second sandbox near the volleyball court, and we painted some buildings. 2011 was also the year when the Shehaqua Family introduced an online form for people to request financial aid. This made it possible for families to attend camp that otherwise would not have been able to do so.

The 2012 Spring Gathering featured whitewater rafting and paintballing, like in the previous year. Family Camp was back to 3 full weeks and a weekend program. We had, for the first time, a young adult director, who had been attending Shehaqua Family Camp ever since he was a young kid. Family Fun Night was moved to the first night of camp to allow people to get to know new families early on, and it became a permanent fixture in the schedule. Five more picnic tables were built by our campers and donated to Hickory Run State Park. That year we set an ambitious service project goal for the next few years: Put a fresh layer of paint on all buildings at Camp Shehaqua. A group of Shehaqua alumni were inspired to start a new program (independent of the Shehaqua Family): Vision Quest, a program consisting of a road trip and leadership training for high school students.

The 2013 Shehaqua Spring Gathering consisted of a hike to the scenic overlook in Glen Onoko and a 3-way capture-the-flag game on the sports field. The Spring Gathering participants also rebuilt the volleyball court to get it ready for the summer. There were 3 weeks of Family Camp in summer. Trying something new, we invited families with young kids to participate in a Young Family Week with a special focus on younger kids. But that week ended up having a shortage of older kids who could serve as group leaders, as well as parents who were free to fill all essential volunteer positions. After that, we decided that Family Camp works best when all age groups are mixed.

The Fall 2013 planning meeting, dubbed "The Shehaqua Summit," turned into a larger meeting at Camp Daddy Allen, located right across from Camp Shehaqua. The gathering lead to a decision to adopt the sociocracy model of governance (also known as dynamic governance) and replace the position of executive director with a council, headed by a council facilitator., The goal was to spread work and responsibilities and involve new families in the Shehaqua Family organization. Ten new circles were formed; five to take care of each Shehaqua program, and five for the year-round operations. You can read more about Shehaqua Family’s leadership structure here.

2014 was the twentieth year of Shehaqua camping. The Spring Gathering once again featured whitewater rafting and paintballing. In summer, the 20th anniversary was celebrated with the production of a special hoodie, the reprinting of the first Shehaqua T-shirt, and the creation of another monumental fruit sculpture in both Weeks 1 and 2. All buildings of Unit 1 were painted as part of the service project that summer. At the Shehaqua Summit in fall, the sociocracy model was evaluated and adjusted. A new circle—the Operations Team—was introduced to improve communication between the existing circles. The Shehaqua Council appointed an operations director to facilitate this circle.

The participants of the 2015 Spring Gathering were treated to new activities: an obstacle course, and a concert with a hired band in the meadow.

And this brings us to the present. Will Shehaqua still be around in 20 years? We sure hope so. We believe that the Shehaqua programs have something really unique and precious to offer to families and young adults. Over the last few years we have experienced a bit of a drop in attendance, but this can be explained by the changing demographics. The children of the families who were organizing and attending Shehaqua programs in the early days have grown up, and many of those families are no longer involved. These children are now young adults and parents themselves, but many are still too young to have kids old enough to come to Family Camp. But we believe that in a few years this will change again, and that they will return with their own kids to give them the same Family Camp experience that enriched their own childhood and youth so much.

Cheers to the next 20 years of the Shehaqua Family!

Click here for Shehaqua History Part I • Click Here for Part II