Colorado Heritage Camps for Adoptive Families

 

Chinese Heritage Camp

September 3rd - 6th, 2010 at Snow Mountain Ranch Fraser, CO

2010 Directors: Dawn Hinsvark, Jan Hite & Wendy Hanophy

"This was my daughter's comment as she was leaving: I'd rather be here than with my soccer team! Meaning - camp was the most important thing in her life!" -Chinese Heritage Camp Evaluation Comment.

"This is the highlight of our daughter's year. We get as much value planning, preparing for, and discussing after the event as the event itself. It is a shared conversation that brings us closer together and makes some conversations possible that otherwise would be very difficult for us to fall into." - Chinese Heritage Camp Evaluation Comment

Chinese Heritage Camp was one of the first camps in the country exclusively created for families with children adopted from China. It is one of the ten camps facilitated by the highly respected Colorado Heritage Camps. Chinese Heritage Camp offers programs for infants through middle school. This will be the 13th year families from across the country meet in Colorado to gain a deeper understanding of the Chinese culture and share their adoption stories.



This year's camp will be held over Labor Day weekend in the beautiful Colorado Rockies near Winter Park, Colorado at the YMCA of the Rockies Snow Mountain Ranch facility www.ymcarockies.org a wonderful family vacation in itself!


Registration information will be going out soon, so request registration information NOW to be placed on our mailing list. It is very important to register EARLY as this camp consistently has a waiting list!

 

Chinese Heritage Camp is a family camp with programming for each member of the family. Campers from toddlers to grandparents participate in classes and workshops taught primarily by Chinese Americans who enthusiastically share their expertise with adoptive families.

 

Asian American counselors serve as role models and mentors to the children as they participate with them in cultural classes while adult family members attend cultural and adoption related workshops ranging from Chinese cooking and customs to the blessings and challenges inherent in our adoptive families.

 

What's happening in 2010?

This year’s theme is Folktales of China. Like all peoples, the Chinese have told each other stories for many different reasons - to teach things to their children, to make each other laugh, to record their feelings and observations and to explain how things got to be the way they are. Folk tales can cover many topics, among which are beauty, love, cleverness, disobedience, greed, happiness, love, lying, patience, and helping people.


The folktale theme will be woven throughout this year’s camp, from the performances at Celebrate China Night through children and adult workshops. Your children may even come up with an original folktale of their own! Some may experience tales of the tiger, in tribute to the Year of the Tiger, which is celebrated in 2010. Tiger people are sensitive, given to deep thinking, capable of great sympathy. Anyone that is born in the Year of the Tiger is usually straightforward and outgoing by nature.

Our volunteers from the Chinese community, plus a cadre of professional speakers, will provide focused workshops and activities for every age group that help both the parents and kids learn about China's rich and varied culture!!

Middle and high school campers will have both old and new activities designed to promote friendships, including great recreational activities that can only be experienced in the beautiful Colorado Mountains. The traditional Mahjong competition will continue in the high school group.

The younger kids, from age 3 through 5th grade, will share the adventure of the Chinese Village, and learn new Chinese games, songs, dances, customs, tradition, and have one workshop that focuses on adoption related issues in an age-appropriate way.

The adults can choose to attend sessions on adoption and family related issues, traveling to China, various cultural sessions, enjoy games of Mahjong, experiment with Chinese Cooking, or zip through the mountains on the Zip-Line.
Please join us as we delve into the very soul of Chinese culture through its folktales and stories in 2010!
Thinking about giving camp a try but want to know more?

Click to read our Frequently Asked Questions and
"Four Days in the Life of Heritage Camp"

For more pictures of Chinese Heritage Camp 2009 click here

Though we have generated very strong support from Colorado's Chinese community, we always need more volunteers to work with the kids, teach workshops, cook meals, and to be counselors at camp.

As a non-profit 501 C(3) organization, Chinese Heritage Camp is always seeking financial assistance to help keep camp costs reasonable for families, while providing an outstanding program. If you'd like to help, please go to the Donations section of this web site, and thank you very much in advance.

We are also in need of donations of frequent flier miles to help defray costs of our out of state speakers. If you have miles you can donate please email us at info@heritagecamps.org

We hope to see you at camp this summer. For further information, please contact us .