Alumni Newsletter – Winter 2020

by The Directors on December 17, 2020

Dear Caribou Family,

Welcome to the Caribou Alumni Newsletter! We hope you are all safe and well wherever you are in the world. We wanted to be in touch and send our love to you and yours. Camp Caribou is made special by all of the individuals who have spent summers on the peninsula (and their families). This unbreakable network is the fabric of our Caribou Community. No matter how long it’s been since you’ve been to camp, Caribou will always be your summer home.

This year has been really tough for so many, and despite all the difficulty, we feel strength from the support of this family; and we hope you feel it too. We are always here for you and we know you are always there for each other. We will continue to tell the mundane and memorable stories of those who came before us at Caribou, and we remember those that we’ve lost. We carry on our traditions, the same ones that you remember, and each summer we strive to provide the comfort and excitement of “just getting to be yourself” in the fresh Maine air, on the 200 acre peninsula, surrounded by friends.

If there is a future camper in your life (your own child, a friend’s, family member’s, or co-worker’s child) that would love to attend camp, we are excited to help you make that possible! From now until February 1st, we are offering a new “alumni transferable discount”. Just refer Camp Caribou, and if that camper enrolls, they will receive a credit on their account and you’ll be sent a new Caribou Alumni sweatshirt! Thanks in advance for any leads you might provide. We’ve included a photo of the sweatshirts below and a link to purchase if you’d like one now!

One credit per child.

Unlimited transferable discounts from now until February 1st. Camper must be new to Caribou.

Family cannot be working with another referral source.

We hope you enjoy learning about some exciting new updates we’ve made at camp, and in addition, we hope you like our new Alumni Spotlight Series. We would love to feature you on the Spotlight too! If you’re interested in participating, please reach out to: alex@campcaribou.com We hope you have a lovely holiday season! Stay well and keep in touch!

Warmest Regards,

Lori, Alex, Bobby, Jerry, Bill & Martha

ALUMNI SPOTLIGHTS

Sue Gilbert

We wanted to spotlight our amazing head chef of 31 years, Sue Gilbert. From her classic lines, “Ham and Cheese or Cheese”, to her dining hall traditions (no hats!), to her amazing cinnamon buns, (and apple crisp, and Anadama Bread, and cookies of all kinds, and all the goodies) Sue was the ultimate head chef and Caribou Star! She embodied the Caribou Giving Spirit not only in the kitchen, but wherever she could help. Sue would stain cabins, sew camper blankets and teddy bears, mend tennis nets, help plan programs, and so much more. Today, the Caribou Picnic Grove is named after her,” Gilbert Grove”, and the the 3 and a half (Shower Facility), now “Ronnie’s Palace”, is named after her husband, Ron. Sue and Ron are doing great and currently reside in Florida! Below you’ll find a few short and sweet words from Sue.

Favorite Camp Memory? Getting up at midnight and looking at the stars then having pizza.

What Caribou values or lessons have you brought into your life after camp? Always remember family isn’t just blood, camp gives you a lot of family.

Favorite piece of life advice? Don’t sweat the small stuff, enjoy life.

Alex Kantor

President – Charlotte Marketing Consultants

Favorite Camp Memory? Traveling to other camps across Maine to lead our teams in competition was always something special. Seeing the campers pour their hearts into practicing and preparing, then being able to compete side-by-side with their best friends was a special experience.

What Caribou values or lessons have you brought into your life after camp? A value that I learned from the Caribou family and the Lermans is that it’s cool to be nice. I have always been a joker, and someone who likes to have a great time with my friends, but I think Martha showed me that you can be compassionate and empathetic as a way of building meaningful relationships as well. This year has been particularly difficult for our company, as it has been for everyone, and sometimes making the difficult decisions to put people over profits, and focus on being nice and doing the right thing is most important. It’s cool to be nice in business, to take care of your team, clients and customers.

Favorite piece of life advice? My father told me early on in my career when I was going through a tough time that the longer you are doing anything, there will be ups and downs. If you have grit and stick to something you believe in long term, there will be good days and bad days, good weeks and bad weeks – eventually, good years and bad years. But having the courage to never give up when you face those challenges will always get you to see more of the goods in front of you.

Max Godnick

Writer and Contributor at Cheddar

What’s your favorite memory of Camp Caribou? Without a doubt my favorite Caribou memory is taking part in the inaugural Pondering the Universe club on Club Night. We sat in a circle and shared our deepest questions about life. To this day, it is maybe the hardest I’ve ever laughed. Thanks to my performance, I was named MVP (Most Valuable Ponderer) and gained many fans and admirers who then spontaneously chanted my name at campfire that night. Fourteen years later and I can confidently say that was my peak.

What Caribou values or lessons have you brought into your life after camp? It’s cool to be nice! Also, working in comedy and entertainment – I’m often motivated by the funniest performer I’ve ever seen: Rotman emceeing at campfire. No late night talk show host has ever come close – and it still inspires me today whenever I’m in front of a crowd or a camera.

Favorite piece of life advice? Never use more than one exclamation point in an email.

Greg Holdsman

Host of Philly Famous Podcast

Greg Holdsman, Caribou camper Alum from 2008 – 2012, is a creator, interviewer, and producer from Philadelphia. In 2017, Holdsman launched “Philly Famous Podcast” and now has released over 125 published interviews with many of his hometown’s innovators and leaders across various sectors. Some of the most notable guests featured on Philly Famous include DJ Jazzy Jeff, Founder and CEO of Saxbys Nick Bayer, former NBA referee Joey Crawford, and NBA greats like Cuttino Mobley and Aaron McKie. Greg’s show has been featured in Philadelphia Magazine’s “Best Podcasts in the City” edition, and is currently nominated for an Intercollegiate Broadcasting System Award for “Best TV Talk Program”.

Favorite memory at Camp Caribou – Winning Olympics with South Africa as a super, with my brother on the team OR the first day ever at Caribou as an 11-year-old new kid feeling immediately embraced by my bunkmates like we’d known each other our whole lives

What Caribou values or lessons have you brought into your life after camp? Relationships are everything.

Favorite piece of life advice? Be careful the way you look at the world, it is that way.

Fresh Fields & Cabins

“Meet Our Family of Directors”

New Projects Made Possible by Alumni

We wanted to share a special project with you that we worked on this past summer with you. This custom built lean-to was donated and dedicated by Barry Gudelsky “Barry GU”, one of our beloved alumni, in honor of our friend, another great Caribou alum who was taken too soon, George Kaplan. George was a camper, a counselor, a husband, a father, and a friend. As our accountant and business advisor, George was a trusted and loyal confidant, and a mentor to all of us. We will be formally dedicating the lean-to with a plaque in memory of George and we look forward to sharing this beautiful structure with our Caribou family. We want to thank Barry, Bill Lerman and the Caribou Maintenance Staff for all their hard work on the construction.

New Campfire Bridge

The next project was another custom in-house build, we completely re-built the bridge to campfire! The whole family pitched in to complete this project, but Bradwyn (our amazing year-round live-in assistant director of maintenance) deserves a HUGE shout out. This project was his baby and he worked really hard to get it right. Additional thanks to Caribou’s own Lockman Family for their help with the new bridge. We are already excited for our first campfire of the 2021 summer!