Come celebrate the holiday season with the YMCA at a special Admirals game on Friday December 3 at 7:00pm.

Tickets are just $16 per person and $4 of the proceeds go directly to helping send kids to camp through our Strong Kids Campaign!  Plus as an added bonus there will be a special concert after the game by the Village People! 

To buy tickets you can go to Ticketmaster online and use the special offer code YMCA or fill out the form online and send in by mail!

In the spirit of the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, I want to thank all of you for being a part of the Matawa family! We are so lucky to have such amazing and supportive campers, parents, donors, staff, and alumni!

Thank you Campers: for being a constant example of the Spirit of Matawa! We love to hear how you are taking what you learn at camp and using it in “the real world.” From singing camp songs, to hopping the tables at home, to telling your friends and family to “get their elbows off the table,” you find little ways to share the Matawa experience with others. We hope that year round you win the Golden Broom for having the cleanest room at home and continue to show why you earned your Four Core Value Patch during your week at camp!

Thank you Parents: for choosing Camp Matawa! We know that there are tons of options for how your kids spend their summer and how you spend your dollars, so we appreciate you choosing Matawa! Thank you for your constant feedback and support. Our parents help us identify what we do great and should continue, but also ways we can continue to improve from one year to the next. We value every relationship we have with parents from those we connect during drop off and pick up in the summer to those who are active volunteers year round!

Thank you Donors: for helping give the gift of Camp Matawa! We know that camp has the power to change lives and people and we want every child to experience that. You help us share the Spirit of Matawa with families that would otherwise not be able to afford it. You truly embody our vision to provide a welcoming atmosphere and a sense of home to more kids and families each summer!

Thank you Staff: for making Camp Matawa the best camp in the nation! Our year round staff answer phones and connect with families, facilitate programs and connect with participants, keep camp going with excellent maintenance and housekeeping, and cook good old’ camp food in the kitchen. They keep the camp feeling going all year round!

Thank you Alumni: for spreading the word about camp and helping us celebrate 15 great summers! For such a young camp, we have a great history filled with amazing people. Thank you for your continued support of camp and staying connected by visiting, volunteering, donating, and telling others about the camp experience!

We have so much to be thankful for this year! Thank you for your impact on camp!

Camp is truly a life-changing experience — one that provides a lifetime of memories, and develops real life skills needed to be a leader in today’s changing world. For many families, camp is already a holiday tradition. For those families who haven’t considered camp yet this season, there are a number of reasons to give the gift of camp:

10. Gift-wrapping a pony has never been easy. Trust us, we’ve tried.

9. Aunt Maude’s fruitcake is still on the top shelf of the pantry.

 8. According to research from The Children’s Mutual, 41 percent of toys and presents given during the December holidays are broken by March.

7. No waiting in line! The average American spends 25 percent of holiday shopping time in line.

 6. No assembly or batteries required.

5. Camp helps boost confidence! According to American Camp Association (ACA) research, 92 percent of campers reported that camp helped them feel better about themselves.

4. First-hand experiences with nature! From insects to vegetation and woodland critters to fish, the camp experience surrounds children with nature and develops a hands-on appreciation for the environment and the natural world.

3. Friends come in all shapes and sizes, and from all different backgrounds. ACA research indicates that 96 percent of campers made new friends, and 93 percent of campers met people that were different from them. The camp experience helps develop authentic friendships and a sense of community, while making children more aware of the world around them.

2. Camp helps stem summer learning loss. According to the National Summer Learning Association, most children experience some degree of learning loss in the summer months. Research has shown that participation in an experiential education program, like camp, has a positive effect on children while helping to stem learning loss.

1. Camp is FUN! Plus you can make the gift even more fun by printing a camp gift certificate and tucking it in a new backpack, roll it in a new sleeping bag, wrap it around a new flashlight, or put it in a traditional gift box complete with colorful paper and a bow. No matter how it’s delivered, the gift of camp is the gift of a lifetime.

One of the highlights of camp is a visit to the camp store. By the end of the week campers have stocked up on their favorite stuffed animals, T-shirts, and maybe a choco taco or two. Families have the option to then donate their remaining store money to our Strong Kids Campership program. We are excited to announce that we raised over $2000 through the generosity of campers this summer. In total camp supported over 130 campers with some form of assistance. What an amazing lesson for children to learn at a young age: I can make a difference in the life of another child!

This year, Camp Matawa will have a float in the Kewaskum Christmas Parade themed “Christmas Night of Lights!”  As part of our camp family, you are invited to join us!!  Come up to camp and help us decorate the wagon!  Bring extra Christmas lights and any other decorations that will show Kewaskum the Spirit of Matawa!  At 4 o’clock, we will head into town to get in place for the 5:00pm parade, followed by cookies and hot chocolate back at camp!  Start the holiday season off right, with a  winter visit to Camp Matawa!  RSVP by emailing Annie or via Events on our Facebook Fan Page!

What an amazing weekend! Camp Matawa was proud to host the 2010 Youth as Partners in Civic Leadership Conference. It is a conference for school and community organizations that partner youth and adults with a common goal of making change in their communities. We had 119 people who are completely and totally dedicated to make the world a better place in attendance! The theme for the conference was “Rise Up and Live It!” I have no doubts that these amazing adults and young people will return to their communities and do just that. With breakout sessions that covered everything from diversity to tobacco education to teen dating violence education everyone walked away with some amazing information and ideas to really make change. Even me! I sat in on several of the activities and sessions over the weekend. Thank you to YPCL for being so awesomely open to sharing their experience with me!
Wendy Mieske
Senior Program Director

Even with all the crazy wind the last few days we managed to have a great time at Camp Matawa. Elm Creative Arts School from Milwaukee was at camp and boy did we have fun! Not only did the kids climb the wall, shoot archery and make a great nature collage, they also had a drama class and performed their “machines” for all of the other students before they left on Wednesday. What a creative bunch of 5th graders! The wind blew lots of branches and other random things around camp, but it couldn’t blow away the excitement and enthusiasm of Elm and the Camp Matawa staff.

Camp Matawa is thrilled to be hosting Dodgeland Middle School this week. Dodgeland has been coming to camp for about 25 years. That’s longer than Matawa’s been Matawa! They used to come to camp when it was still run by the Wisconsin DNR. During those early years they had to bring all their own class supplies, food and even their own cooks. Dodgeland teachers, parents and volunteers still do all the teaching of their environmental education, art and recreation classes. But, now Val and all the other fantastic kitchen staff do the cooking. And, Andrew and Wendy are here to help them with anything else they might need. Here’s to a historical partnership and many more years to come!