The Esopus Summer Camp Program
There is a Dream Called Esopus
Mr. Todd Stallkamp
reprinted from Today's Marist Brother, Spring 2003
In the mid 1970's, a group of Marist Brothers began a mission
to serve an overlooked and ignored population of men, women
and children. Once functioning as a training residence for young
brothers, the Marist property in Esopus had lost its purpose.
The 125 acres along the Hudson River was ready for
reinvention. The Mid Hudson Valley Camp is the embodiment of
their dream, a dream still alive today.
Over the course of this past summer, the brothers hosted ten
weeklong sessions serving this community. Pudding fights and
talent shows kept the children of our two special kids camps
engaged. Our special young adults enjoyed their prom night
and managed to ring in the New Year during their Christmas in
August theme week. Adult clients, predominantly from group
homes, enjoyed the perfect Esopus vacation of sun, swimming
and a break from the city.
From New York's inner city campers swapped subways for
paddleboats. Kids from Transfiguration parish in Chinatown,
kicked off the summer with lots of fun trips for ice cream and
strawberry picking at a local farm. Having no problem with
July's humidity, children from the St. Francis School for the
Deaf in Brooklyn sought refuge at the pool. In August, boys
and girls from the Sacred Heart School in the South Bronx
found campfire ghost stories a bit scarier than their local
neighborhoods. Sponsored and staffed by St. Helen's Parish in
Westfield, New Jersey, children from the oncology unit of
Columbia Presbyterian Hospital enjoyed outing to a local
fairgrounds and great evenings of entertainment while here in
Esopus.



Service requires workers. A volunteer staff has served our
campers since the beginning. Recruited mainly through the
Marist Brothers' High Schools and associated apostolates, a
generation of counselors had matured into many of today's
camp directors replacing the original founding men and
women. Passing on a legacy of compassion, Christian service
and the joy found in this volunteer community. Hundreds of
teenagers have brought to life what could be very abstract
ideals. After high school and college many of our counselors
have found their calling through what they experienced in
Esopus.
Teachers, therapists, social workers, doctors, nurses and speech
pathologists amongst others are all alumni of Esopus. Many of
these professionals have continued to return to camp for a
week or more well into their "adult" lives. The vision of St.
Marcellin Champagnat to love and serve the underprivileged
and marginalized is strong and visible in the Esopus dream.
From
GENE ZIRKEL
('53): I was blessed with a wonderful
Marist summer of 2001, attending the Spirituality Institute in
Poughkeepsie and later working in the kitchen in Esopus during
the camp run by the Brothers for retarded adults. I am very
impressed at the camp. Many teenagers gave up a week of their
summer vacation to help. I know from my experiences at the
Handicapped Encounter Christ Cursillo weekends that the
handicapped can be very difficult. The kids were beautiful,
walking their charges hand in hand, calming them down when
they were disturbed, taking them swimming, seeing that they
ate. Another group of teens worked in the scullery washing
dishes for 200 people three times a day. These teens from
Molloy, St Francis, Mary Louis Academy, etc. were an
inspiration. It is great that the Brothers provide this opportunity
for them to serve. While in Esopus I visited the new graves of
Lenny, Adolph, and Pat Tyrell, and of course the graves of all






my other friends from the past. I ask all of these saints to pray
for me.
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most recent revision:
9 August 2010