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Douglas
R. Warren October
19, 2000 Mr.
Jonathan R. Price Dear
Mr. Price, On behalf of the Choconut Foundation, I have been
asked to contact you about our group’s 15-year association with Camp
Susquehannock for Girls. Dede
Shafer suggested I call, but I thought I would write you first, to
provide you with some background. First of all, congratulations on your efforts to
establish a non-profit association to manage and sustain the
Susquehannock Camps. The
members of the Choconut Foundation are interested in assisting you in
keeping the Susquehannock Camps in operation in any way we can. The members of the Choconut Foundation are former
campers and counselors of Camp Choconut, the boys camp at Lake Choconut
that ended following the 1985 summer season.
Camp Susquehannock for Girls commenced at the site the following
summer of 1986 under the leadership of George and Dede Shafer, and the
Choconut Foundation held its first reunion at the site over Labor Day
Weekend of that year. We have had a reunion at Lake Choconut over Labor Day
Weekend every year since, including this past Labor Day 2000.
Our attendance at these annual reunions has consistently run
between 50 and 65 alumni, spouses and children.
We have annual attendance from virtually every state along the
east coast (from Maine to Georgia) as well as folks who regularly fly in
from Michigan, Arizona, Nevada and California (even Puerto Rico two
years ago!). For many of us, these weekends are as sacred as any
family gathering. We look
forward to having the opportunity to renew old friendships at Lake
Choconut and would feel a real void in our lives if that opportunity no
longer existed. I am sure
many Susquehannock alumni have similar feelings about their own camp
experiences and understand this kind of attachment. In addition to making a monetary payment every year
(I believe we gave the Shafers $600 as our “rent” and also made a
$500 contribution to the Susquehannock Scholarship Fund this year), the
Choconut Foundation weekend participants have performed
any manual labor requested by the Shafers to help in closing down the
Camp for the season. The
Shafers can testify to our efforts in thoroughly cleaning the Kitchen
and Dining Hall and generally performing whatever chores the Shafers
have asked us to do. We
have performed this labor gladly, since we realize what a special
opportunity we have to meet once a year at camp, and to share this
experience with our families. I know the members of the Susquehannock Board have
many pressing issues to deal with in preparation for next summer’s
camp season for both the boy’s and girl’s camps.
My main purpose in writing, then, is to express the Choconut
Foundation’s interest in continuing our positive, supportive
relationship with the Susquehannock Family and to let you know that we
are extremely interested in continuing to hold our annual reunions at
the Lake Choconut girl’s camp location during Labor Day Weekends. If your schedule allows, I would be happy to come
downtown and meet you for lunch sometime.
You are also welcome to call me at home: (410) 433-5465 or at
work: (410) 601-8348, but with two small boys at home, sometimes phone
conversations work better during the day at work!
Thanks and I look forward to hearing from and meeting you soon.
Sincerely,
Doug Warren cc: Dede Shafer
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