Filling Buckets: Our 2019 Theme
This year’s summer theme, chosen to help guide campers to be the best versions of themselves, is “Filling Buckets.”
Our first summer theme was in 2012 when we chose the theme of gratitude. We followed that theme with kindness (Cool 2B Kind), relationship building (Creating Connections), helpfulness (Give a Hand), grit (Growing Grit), positivity (The Energy Bus), and 2018’s focus on friendship (Find-a-Friend).
One thing that makes life at camp special is that we live in a community where our shared experience is full of face-to-face, positive interactions with each other. At camp, we are shielded from input and news from life outside of GAC and we take a break from the pressures of social media. This unique setting provides us the privilege and responsibility of maintaining our own positive and encouraging atmosphere.
Every interaction we have with another person is an opportunity to have a positive, negative, or neutral impact. It is easy to be too self-focused and worry about our own agenda and needs. Encouraging others and actively seeking opportunities to have a positive impact are noble challenges we are excited to embrace in our community.
Tom Rath and Donald Clifton of Gallup Strengthsfinders introduced “The Theory of the Bucket and the Dipper” in their bestselling 2004 book, How Full is Your Bucket? Positive Strategies for Work and Life.
Carol McCloud’s 2015 children’s book Have You Filled A Bucket Today? presents Rath and Clifton’s concept in a simplified version and is our inspiration for this year’s theme.
Here are some of the 2019 GAC staff reading Have You Filled a Bucket Today?:
We’re thrilled to make our GAC community stronger by helping campers understand that encouragement makes others feel valued. Together, we will experience the joy that comes from making others our focus.There are many opportunities at camp to fill other people’s buckets through kindness and encouragement. Filling Buckets means using our words and actions to show how much we care:
- Sharing a heartfelt smile
- Greeting each other by name
- Helping others without being asked
- Giving sincere compliments
- Recognizing others for bravery and achievements
- Encouraging others when they succeed and also when they’re struggling
- Elevating the needs of others above our own
- Seeking opportunities to have a positive impact on others
Filling Buckets builds on the work we’ve done in the areas of positivity, friendship, and kindness. The friendships we forge at camp are special for many reasons, and we know that keeping the focus on lifting each other up will add depth and richness to our connections. It is our sincere hope that 2019’s GAC campers will take this theme home and continue to make positive changes in their communities by being kind and encouraging with everyone they encounter. Everyone deserves a full bucket!
Resources/Related
How Full is Your Bucket, Tom Rath & Donald Clifton
Have You Filled a Bucket Today? Carol McCloud
The Theory of the Dipper and the Bucket
Whadda Day! June 6, 2019
Introducing Whadda Day! A new daily look into life at Gold Arrow Camp.
If you’d like to listen to the audio only, click below.
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Join us for a Summer Adventure! Hiring Rock Climbing, Ropes Course & Backpacking Instructors
Rock Climbing & Ropes Course
Unplugged, Rustic Bliss by Nina Adams
This summer, Nina Adams will be returning to join our staff for the first time as an Activity Counselor on our sailing dock. Nina spent 5 Sierra summers at GAC as a camper and wrote the following article about camp for the Larchmont Chronicle.
This summer, I will finally be returning home to Gold Arrow Camp, this time as a counselor. I am looking forward to reuniting with my friends from several summers ago and reliving my camp childhood memories.
-Nina Adams
Longtime camper, Nina Adams, wrote an article for the Larchmont Chronicle titled “Unplugged, Rustic Bliss: Camping in the High Sierra.”
As summer approaches, every kid has an activity he or she looks forward to most. For some it might be video games; for others, it is traveling with family; for me, it was always Gold Arrow Camp.
Gold Arrow is a sleepaway camp located on Lake Huntington in the High Sierra for kids ages six to 15. The camp is a traditional summer camp in the truest sense, offering campers an unplugged (as in no electronic devices!), rustic outdoor experience. Campers live in cabins for two weeks, and they participate in daily activities including horseback riding, hiking, water skiing, backpacking and rock climbing.
When I left for sleepaway camp at age 10, I had tears in my eyes and an unmatched anxiety. Would I make friends? Would I get homesick? I was beyond nervous concerning the two weeks I was about to have away from home. After my long, five-hour bus ride to the High Sierra, my feelings instantly changed. No one could have prepared me for the thrill and excitement I would feel when I stepped off the bus onto the campgrounds on Lake Huntington.
GAC Party Recap
On the afternoon of May 5th, more that 300 GAC campers and their families met with our camp directors and some of our great staff for our southern California GAC Party. We celebrated Cinco de Mayo with dinner, songs, games, and the opportunity for parents and campers to ask experienced GAC campers and parents questions. We’re thrilled that so many new parents and campers were able to come and get a little taste of what camp is going to be like!
The event also served as a book signing for our Chief Visionary Officer, Audrey “Sunshine” Monke, whose debut book, Happy Campers, is now available for purchase.
If you live in northern California, we’re coming your way with our GAC Party in Atherton on May 19th! Details and RSVP for that event are available here.
Enjoy some photos from the southern California GAC Party:
Happy Campers is on Sale Today!
Gold Arrow Camp’s Audrey “Sunshine” Monke’s new book is here!
Happy Campers: 9 Summer Camp Secrets for Raising Kids Who Become Thriving Adults is on sale in the US today!
In Happy Campers, Sunshine shares what she’s learned from over three decades at Gold Arrow Camp creating a community that campers and staff call a “second home” and their “happy place.”
You can order Happy Campers at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, IndieBound, Books-a-
Join Sunshine on Facebook Live tomorrow (May 8) at 12:00 pm PT / 3:00 pm ET for an online book launch celebration and discussion.
Check out the Happy Campers Book Hub for many free resources, including a Happy Campers Workbook and Discussion Guide, 2019 Summer Read-Along Schedule, and much more!
Join the Happy Campers Book Club Group on Facebook to join Sunshine this summer as she covers one “secret” per week in July and August!
Come see Sunshine and get your book signed at an upcoming event:
May 16 (6-8 pm) – Branches Books & Gifts (Oakhurst, CA): Book Launch Party, Signing, Q & A, and Live Podcast Recording
May 19 (4-6 pm) – GAC Northern California Party (Atherton, CA)
May 20 (7-8 pm) – New Brighton Middle School (Capitola, CA): Raising Kids Who Become Thriving Adults Talk & Book Signing
May 30 (5-7pm) – Linden Tree Books (Los Altos, CA): Book Signing (it’s also farmer’s market day in Los Altos!)
Already have your copy? Post a photo of yourself (or your GAC camper!!) with a copy of the book. Tag Sunshine (@audreymonke on Twitter, @sunshine.parenting on Instagram, or @SunshineParenting on Facebook) or use the #happycampersbook hashtag!
Thank you so much for joining Sunshine in sharing ideas for raising kids who become thriving adults!
Remembering Hope “Fiji” Mirano
We are so sad to let our GAC family know that our longtime, beloved staff member (2000-2008), Hope “Fiji” Mirano Chen, lost her 3 1/2 year battle with cancer earlier this week. She leaves behind her husband Mike, her daughter Olivia, and a large a loving extended family – including many current and former GAC staff members.
Hope’s sister, Anna Mirano Macalino writes:
On Wednesday May 1, 2019, my sister and best friend, Hope Mirano Chen, died after a courageous and inspiring 3.5 year battle with a very aggressive form of AML due to complications resulting from her most recent treatment. On her last days, she was surrounded by her loved ones and is finally resting in peace and no longer in pain. The Mirano and Chen families would like to thank everyone for all of the love and support throughout this journey. The outpouring of support and prayers, blood and platelet donations, gifts for and time with Olivia, traveling across the globe to visit, weekly visits, slumber parties, texts, facetime, calls…the list is endless. We could never list all of you, but please know that we are eternally grateful to each and every one of you. Hope and our families didn’t have just a village, we truly had the world helping us fight…friends, family and the kindness of many many strangers. Hope left us knowing she was truly loved. We would especially like to thank Dr Stein and the City of Hope for their care and becoming part of our family throughout this process. Gary Ragat your donation gave Hope hope twice, it meant so much to her. And to Cheryl Oliver-Cervantes for never leaving our side and helping us navigate through every single emotional and administrative step of Hope’s last days. We would like to compile stories of your memories of Hope for her daughter, Olivia. Through all of you we will keep Hope’s memory alive in Olivia. Please post on Hope’s timeline any thoughts and we will ensure that your messages are passed along to Olivia and the family. Thank you all again for being with us on this journey.
We have received so much love and an outpouring of people that want to help. Your kindness at this time is genuinely appreciated. For those asking about donations, Hope wanted to help find a cure for blood cancer. Donations can be made in Hope’s name to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. In order to send a tribute gift, please donate directly at https://donate.lls.org/lls/donate. As you personalize your gift, please put Hope Mirano Chen under the Personalize Your Donation section and Mike and the family will be notified of your generosity.
A few of the words shared about “Fiji” from GAC staff include:
“Heaven gained an angel far too soon. Hope, I will forever cherish our memories on and off the mountain from our GAC years. Thank you for being you and such an inspiration to many. Mike, Olivia, family and all who are walking with heavy hearts today. You are all in my thoughts and prayers.”
-Abbey “Wild Violet” Butcher
“My beautiful friend! I cannot put into words all the memories we have shared over the past 16 years! From camp sleepovers in “The Hilton” to dressing up in the most ridiculous costumes for GAC dances to weddings to welcoming our children together! I have so many cherished memories to hang on to! Your legacy lives on in your beautiful O! To Mike and Anna and all your family and friends who are feeling this pain, we love you and miss you everyday! I pray that your family finds peace during this hard time. Until we meet again and run a LOT of “errands” together we LOVE YOU Fiji Feeeeej!
-Renee “Zippy” Say
Hope, This breaks my heart. I love you sweet lady.
-Aaron “Elf” Kessler
We love you, Fiji, and will always cherish memories of your cheerful spirit, your warmth, and your love for others. You will be missed dearly.
