Hello! My name is Rachel Talmadge! I am from Fredericksburg, VA, and I am 19 years old. I came to camp as a camper for most of my childhood and then I was lucky enough to be hired as a counselor for the first time last summer. I am currently living at Camp Hanover as a part of the Isaiah 40 team!
The Isaiah 40 Project is a really amazing program that the directors put together because of Covid-19. I am working and living with 6 other young adults this summer. We are working Monday-Friday from 9am to 5pm. We have been working on a wide variety of projects to better Camp Hanover!
This week alone we gardened, cleaned trails, made new signs for around camp, cleaned out the welcome center garage, beekeeping, and moved in new furniture for the welcome center! We are all so dedicated to bettering camp for future campers!
When we first arrived at camp, we had to complete a two week quarantine. We all wore masks and had to socially distance from one another. It was very taxing and emotionally draining, but our quarantine ended on Monday June 22! We are now a quaranTEAM, as we like to say!
We celebrated the end of our quarantine with something we called Hug Day! Hug Day was a big deal for us because we could finally embrace and be a real community. We also had a sing along in Wise during breakfast because we could finally sing all together! As someone who loves singing, it was so nice to sing with other people again!
I will draw to a close by saying thanks to Doug, Harry, and Colleen, for giving me the opportunity to be here and give back to something that has done so much for me.
But those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.
– Isaiah 40:31