ChurchSafety

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Hello, muddah. Hello, faddah.
Here I am at Camp Granada.
Camp is very entertaining,
And they say that we'll have fun if it quits raining.

"Camp Granada" by Allan Sherman

Have you ever identified with the hapless camper immortalized in Sherman's classic ballad? I have. As an Eagle Scout and a former professional staff member of the Boy Scouts of America, I have experienced my share of camping, everything from the very best to the very worst. I have enjoyed exhilarating and fulfilling camping sessions, and suffered through camps where practically nothing went right. I've even been on the search team for one boy who was lost, and was never found.

Whether your church is sending kids off to camp this summer, owns or operates its own camp, or plans to start a camp, we want to help your kids and families have a fun, safe camp experience. The only horror stories should be the ones told around the campfire before "lights out."

Frank Sommerville is the father of four children, all of whom have attended church camps in years past. He's also an attorney who specializes in not-for-profit law in Dallas, Texas. He confesses that as an attorney and a parent he can be hyper-vigilant; still, he stresses the importance of making sure a church-sponsored summer camp is staffed with an adequate number of trained stall members.

"It's important that everyone, whether parent or staff member, keep the old adage `safety first' foremost in mind," Sommerville says. "Just having this mindset can prevent a lot of problems from happening.''

To Sommerville, safety first is more than just a slogan. "It comes down to having good, responsible people taking a look at a camp and the proposed program, and thinking about what could possibly go wrong, because chances are good that it will," he says. "And when safety concerns arise, policies have to be implemented that will address those safety concerns."

Sommerville mentions his 15-year-old, rock-climbing son as an example. "My son loves to rock climb," he explains. "Recently, there was a camping event located in a rock-climbing mecca not far from here. I asked the camp officials what was being done to prevent the campers from climbing on the rocks. They said, `Well, we tell them not to do that.' I can tell you that that's not going to keep kids from climbing the rocks, so that's the type of situation where a church that is putting on a camp needs to implement policies about dealing with things that can go wrong."

Sommerville is concerned about the potential trend of sexual predators in camps. "As much as we all hope they won't be there, there's a good chance they could be," he says. "This is where careful screening is important, especially when you're hiring staff from outside the church."

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