Canoeing and hiking through the Adirondack Mountains takes endurance, confidence and a lot of skill. So does getting through life.
A summer camp dedicated to girls and young women is guiding them through both. Camp Little Notch, located in Fort Ann, aims to equip campers from ages 7 to 17 with the ability to make good life choices through a host of programs held during July and August and led by Executive Director Ellen Tuzzolo.
“What we really focus on is giving kids the opportunity to make a real connection with nature and to make lifelong friends and also learn how to be their own best friend – to have an appreciation for themselves,” said Tuzzolo, who is in the process of moving to the area to run the camp.
Additionally, the camp’s mission is to “provide opportunities for all people to practice living in harmony with nature.” To that end, Tuzzolo said they have reached out to a diverse group of campers from various ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds.
Much of the camp’s philosophy stems from that of inclusiveness, which is also touted by the Girl Scouts of the United States of America, previous owners of the camp. It’s also the place where Tuzzolo camped as a kid, which was an experience that shaped who she is today.
“Making lifelong friends gave me point from which I could really blossom,” she said.
Gabrielle Tayac, of Washington, D.C., also attended camp as a scout. She’s now a parent and has fond memories of her experiences at camp saying, “It’s an incredible, empowering place.”
Tuzzolo heard that the camp was being sold in 2009 by the Girls Scouts. She was working with incarcerated women in Alabama for the Justice Policy Institute at the time, a career that has roots in the diversity she was exposed to as a camper. It’s also a career she gave up to take over camp operations.
“It was a really special place for many, many people,” said Tuzzolo of the camp’s 70-year history with the scouts. She couldn’t see it not continuing.
Tuzzolo enlisted the help of over 400 camp alumni, including Tayac, to form Friends of Camp Little Notch. Their hope is to raise money to purchase the camp from the Open Space Institute, which bought it from the Girl Scouts in a move initiated and facilitated by the alumni group.
Friends of Camp Little Notch have since partnered with the Open Space Institute with the understanding they will be able to buy the property within three years under a “lease to purchase agreement” in the amount of $1.09million for the 450-acre site.
“So far, we’ve raised about $400,000,” said Tuzzolo. Sources of income include earned income, foundation and business contributions along with individual donations. The site includes a private lake and an iron smelting furnace from the 1800s.
The camp has retained much of what the Girl Scouts formerly included in their programs, and has built off of many of them. One program added by Tuzzolo is that of social consciousness.
“It gives the kids a chance to have conversations (about sensitive issues like racism) in a facilitated environment,” she said.
Over a recent weekend, Tayac and her daughter Jansi, 10, traveled to Fort Ann to help Tuzzolo and other volunteers spiffy the place up for incoming campers. Jansi and her best friend CC from Belgium will be camping there later in the summer.
Jansi is excited about camping, and sees the prospects of and all-girl camp as being “much more comfortable” than with boys around.
Tayac is happy her daughter will be attending camp where she did, and added, “I always had the world of nature open to me and the possibilities of what girls and women could accomplish was a huge factor. Itwas a central place to much of my development.”
She added that the camp is still her “happy place.”
Jo Lum grew up in Cambridge and was also a camper at Little Notch as a kid. She now sits on the Friends of Camp Little Notch’s Board of Directors as president. Like Tuzzolo and Tayack, she couldn’t bear to see the camp close.
Lum said she still considers the camp as a “home” and has helped in a lot of sustainability projects the camp is embarking on, including composting.
She said that as a young girl, the camp gave her a place to “feel safe and empowered” from the first time she went there.
For more information on the camp, visit friendsofcln.org. They are still seeking campers for this summer.
