The New York Times - July 8, 1999
You've Got Mail: Hello Muddah (and CC: Fadduh)

They are not quite jumping through hoops, but camp counselors have to be pretty creative to get their campers to write home during the summer. On certain nights at some camps, getting a seat in the dining hall is contingent upon presentation of a letter, addressed and stamped. Contests in which letters are drawn from a hat, with the winning writer getting a free trip to the canteen, are also common.

"We try for three letters a week per camper, with some success," said Howard Salzberg, director of Camp Modin, in Belgrade, Maine.

For the busy camper, E-mail would seem to be the natural answer. But most camps keep E-mail largely out of the experience, either because they do not have enough computers or for more philosophical reasons.

"Being at camp is about being away, and being independent," Mr. Salzberg said. "When you have E-mail readily accessible, it's like you're not really away from home."

Camp Modin, like many camps, allows parents to send a limited number of faxes and E-mails, which staff members print out, fold, and distribute daily along with regular mail. But campers must still send their mail via the Postal Service.

Mr. Salzberg added that as a result of the deluge of faxes and E-mails from parents last summer, he established a limit of two per family per week this summer. "We had some parents E-mailing their kids stock quotes and entire sports sections," he said. "It completely overloaded us."

Many parents would like their children to be allowed to send E-mail. "It would enable them to send letters off quickly and often, which is not the case now, because they have trouble keeping track of stamps and envelopes," said Joanna Bronfman of Chappaqua, N.Y., who has two sons at Modin this summer. "I don't care how I hear from them, as long as I can hear from them often. They can sky write for all I care."

Several companies, including E-Camp, based in New York City, are attempting to give campers E-mail ability without burdening the camps. The company installs computers at camps - one for every 25 children whose parents agree to pay a $5-per-month fee. The campers then get unlimited E-mail. E-Camps said it has agreements with 30 camps, including Kinder Ring in Hopewell Junction, N.Y., and Timber Ridge in High View, W.Va.

Jay Jacobs, executive director of Timber Lake Camp in Shandaken, N.Y., said he had considered using the service. But despite the fact that it would not have costed the camp anything, he decided he didn't have the space - or the desire. "We want camp to be a little bit of life as it was," he said. "We don't feel like we have to move ahead with every aspect of technology. Don't kids get enough of that all winter?"

Some camps, like Buck's Rock, in New Milford, Conn., and Camp French Woods, in Hancock, N.Y., offer computer programming classes and make their computers available for sending E-mail during designated times.

Camp French Woods, which has 400 campers, has set up 40 computer work stations for the summer, 20 of which will be online. "We find E-mail is a better alternative to the phone, especially for a first-time camper," said Ron Schaefer, the camp's director. "If a camper has a fight with a friend, didn't like a particular meal, or struck out with the bases loaded, writing it down helps them to put it into perspective." E-mail, he said, "gives them assurance without hearing their mother's voice over the phone."

Many camps now recognize that Web sites can be a useful way to provide parents with information about their children's activities. As buses rolled into Camp Echo Lake, in Warrensburg, N.Y., last summer, a counselor stood beside each bus snapping pictures of the arriving campers with a digital camera. The images were then posted on the Echo Lake Web site.

Internet services such as Kids' Camps, based in Boca Raton, Fla., now offer Web sites for thousands of camps. Nancy Diamond, co-founder of Kids' Camps, said many of the camps that use the company's services also set up "parent guest books" to publish weekly or monthly newsletters, in addition to photos of the campers.

Echo Lake, like other camps, now lets campers design their own Web pages, which parents can log onto with a password to see photos of their children water-skiing, at dinner, or with their bunkmates. If a camper was in a play or relay race, the parents can download snippets of audio or video of the performance. Echo lake has had to hire a full time employee just to maintain Web activity, but Mr. Stein said it is worthwhile. "We're applying technology in a way that gives the kids their independence, and still lets the parents feel connected," he said.