May 13, 2025 • 32 mins
Dan Osman is a seasoned youth development professional with over two decades of experience in summer camps, serving as a camper, counselor, and director. Renowned as a leading expert in creating impactful camp experiences, he has been the Director of Development at Camp Ta-Kum-Ta in South Hero, Vermont, where he leverages his expertise to enhance programs for children with cancer and their families. Osman’s career also includes leadership at Camp Daybreak, supporting campers with social, emotional, and behavioral needs, and advocacy for mental health and addiction recovery, earning him recognition on regional, national, and international platforms. His ability to connect with individuals and communities has made him a transformative figure in youth programming.
Camp Ta-Kum-Ta, located in South Hero, Vermont, has been a beacon of hope for over 30 years, offering year-round, transformative experiences for children who have or have had cancer, along with their families, from Vermont, Northern New York, and beyond. Providing a safe, loving environment, the camp delivers challenging activities that foster resilience, joy, and connection, all at no cost to participants. With a mission to create lasting memories and empower young cancer survivors, Camp Ta-Kum-Ta relies on dedicated staff like Dan Osman to sustain its impactful programs, ensuring every child can experience the magic of camp.
Myers Container Service Corp. is the area's most reliable in garbage removal and recycling services. We are a locally owned company with 12 years of industry experience.
Every week here on the Trash Talking and Giving Back Podcast, we highlight local heroes and organizations that are doing great work in our community.
Camp Ta-Kum-Ta, located in South Hero, Vermont, has been a beacon of hope for over 30 years, offering year-round, transformative experiences for children who have or have had cancer, along with their families, from Vermont, Northern New York, and beyond. Providing a safe, loving environment, the camp delivers challenging activities that foster resilience, joy, and connection, all at no cost to participants. With a mission to create lasting memories and empower young cancer survivors, Camp Ta-Kum-Ta relies on dedicated staff like Dan Osman to sustain its impactful programs, ensuring every child can experience the magic of camp.
Myers Container Service Corp. is the area's most reliable in garbage removal and recycling services. We are a locally owned company with 12 years of industry experience.
Every week here on the Trash Talking and Giving Back Podcast, we highlight local heroes and organizations that are doing great work in our community.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Hey everybody, it's Aaron Colefield Barker. Welcome to another episode
of the Trash Talking and Giving Back Podcast. This is
my co host, Joe Sinagra. He's the operations manager at
Myers Containers. This podcast all about Myers, a very family
oriented business here in Vermont, but also super involved in
(00:35):
giving back in our community. We do have a guest
for you today. We've got Dan Osman from Camp to
compt But before we get to them, Joe, You've usually
got something kind of fun for us to chit chat
about here, so I'm looking forward to hearing what we've
got this week.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Well, now, you know, I was thinking about erin.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
It's been a busy week with everything going out, so
I don't have really any on topic items for this week,
you know, because it's been a little bit of a
of a worldwin week.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Okay, fair, fair, we can just talk about what everyone's
I'm talking about, which is how it just hasn't stopped
raining forever.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
It hasn't, you know, Hopefully our flowers will start blooming
a little bit more and everything soa which which hopefully
we've seen soon.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Look at you looking for the bright side of that rain.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Well, yeah, you know I'm usually guy half glass, half
empty guy, not the other way around.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Well, you did it.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
What is it like for your guys, like on what
is the vibe like in the morning when it's just
been raining, or if it's like a miserable rainy day.
Because you do, most of your guys like they get
to see in the truck or sometimes some roots they.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Have to get out, and no, a lot of roots
they have to get out open gates, you know, for
dumpsters at gas stations in place like that, and then
we do a lot of what's called back door stops
where you have to go up and pull pull the
tots back out. I've been meaning to upload the video
though I talked about recently of the raccoon on top
(02:03):
of our trash truck driving, but it made me think,
did you see the video viral video going around of
the lady who got pulled over and the raccoon was
smoking meth in the front seat.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
So I didn't watch the video, but I saw the
like screenshot of the raccoon in the front seat.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
I'm petrified of raccoons, so it's a funny joke around
people who know me. I really don't like raccoons. I think,
you know, the world would be a better place if
we didn't have any.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Frankly, what is their purpose?
Speaker 2 (02:39):
I don't know, but.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
They say like bees pollinate the flowers, like goats eat
your grass, Like, what is the purpose you don't eat raccoon? Oh,
I guess people make hats.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
I guess I think they're they had a worse pr
director than skunks, because you hear good things about skunks,
but not raccoons.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
They come out and you would think that they I
would like them, because you know, they're they're a little grumpy,
and they come out at night, and they like to eat,
and they only you know, they act slowly and everything,
so you'd think it would be like my spirit animal.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
But no, they're just they're not.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
They're just not. Okay, Well, I'll take a raccoon over
a skunk any day.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Well likewise, likewise.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
That's I guess it seems like a good a good
time to bring Dan and we'll see we'll get his
take on raccoons over skunks. Joining us today is Dan Osman,
who is the development director at Camp to come to
it's a very busy time as they're kind of like
maybe the calm before the storm, getting ready for this
season up at camp to come to Dan before you
give us the camp to come to elevator, pitch up.
(03:44):
What it's all about though? What is your take on
raccoons versus skunks?
Speaker 4 (03:48):
Dan Osman, the development director, slash varmit expert, Right, yeah, you.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Guys probably at camp, Like is there ever? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (03:57):
Oh yeah. We have all sorts of criators at camp.
Skunks and raccoons to name a few. If I had
to pick between the two, I'm gonna be honest, I'm
gonna go raccoon. Sorry, Joe, it's smell.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
I don't want the skunk.
Speaker 4 (04:10):
Yeah, that's the thing smell. And I know people and
have experienced getting sprayed. No, thank you.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Oh no, I got to stress. You know, I'm a
city boy by trade. I don't like any wild animals.
I mean, I I'm cool with you know, bear and
raccoon and skunk and mice and rats. I mean for me,
you know, I'm you know any of those. You know,
I've been to camp a number of times and you
have all kinds of deer and raccoons and.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Mice and possums, and.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
You know, I'm good. I'm okay with all of that.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
My favorite is we have lots of rabbits at camp.
Lots of rabbits.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
That's cute.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
That's cute.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Okay, Dan, thank you for joining us on the podcast.
Super excited to hear about camp. So tell me for
someone who maybe has heard of camp to come to.
But does I really know what it's all about? What
is it all about?
Speaker 4 (05:03):
Absolutely? So, we have a year round programming for kids
and their families who are impacted by childhood cancer. All
of our campers come from New York and Vermont. Our
requirement is that you are treated at EVM Medical Center,
So we actually have a number of campers who come
from out of state as well or out of the
region as well as far as Virginia sometimes. And we
(05:25):
build programming around our campers' needs. So we have, like
I said, about a program every month for every member
of the family. We have our signature summer program, which
is for our campers. We have a siblings program in
the fall, a program for our moms, and a program
for our dads, as well as a number of family
opportunities for the entire family. And then we have winter weekends.
(05:46):
We have one in January, February, and March. And then
one of our other really exciting programs is we do
to exchange program with our sister camp, Camp Wrap a
Hope down in Mobile, Alabama. Folks down there for their
team weekend and then they send some kids up to
our weekend as well. So that's a really cool sort
of cultural exchange, which is really cool.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Well, and that's cool. I feel like a lot of
times you think camp, you naturally just kind of think summer.
So to know that there's actually stuff going on all
year long up at camp to compta's pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
Literally, I think the only month we don't have a
program is November, but really every other time we have
a program. And actually our next program coming up in
June is a new program. It's our Young Adult Survivors Programs,
the first time we're doing that. It's for campers who
have aged out of our traditional camp programming but will
(06:39):
come and have a camp program for a weekend and
talk about sort of what's going on for them, but
also have some space to go on our ropes course.
You know, maybe the pool will be open probably at
that point, be warm enough hopefully in June, so you know,
just really building in as many opportunity as we can
to build a community with our campers and their families
(06:59):
and create a proven environment for them.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
So Dan talk to us about how many kids participate
in an annual basis and how they come to you,
you know, how do they find you and how the
process works.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
Yeah, so we annually we serve about ninety families from
Vermont and New York specifically, and then from out of
state as well. Like I mentioned, the referral process, it's
sort of dependent. We did a lot of referrals from
UVM Medical Center. We have a really close connection with
the Children's hospital there, but really anyone can refer a camper.
(07:36):
What we then do is then work with the children's
hospital to make sure that we have all their medical
needs met. It's hard to quantify how many people ninety
families is because we'll have campers who will engage in
our summer camp program, but then also our winter weekends,
we'll have a mom and a dad or a guardian
participate in moms and dads, and then we'll have siblings
(07:58):
as well, so we're really and also we have a
family fun day in May that forgot to mention and
that's for the entire family, extended family as well, So
really a lot of opportunities to connect with different members
of the family and bring them to camp and have
a good time for.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
You and everyone who works there, I'm sure that right.
It's it's a very fun place to work, but also
like rewarding and just seeing the kids and how much
fun they're having in smiles on their faces when we
know that these are you know, children who have a
lot more on their plate than any parent hopes their
child will have to have on their plate. So what
(08:34):
is that like, you know, for you and the other
people who work there every year? And then I'm sure
kids you know who who've maybe survived cancer and come
out of it maybe come back and visit.
Speaker 5 (08:43):
Like just how much pride you guys taken in.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
The good that you do.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
Yeah, it's amazing and it's an amazing place. You know,
we talk about this a lot, but how you can
talk about camp, but really when you come on the
property and you see programs in action, that's when you
really feel that intense emotion of how wonderful it is.
We have folks that are deeply committed to our programming.
Our campers will often come back as volunteers. We actually
(09:12):
were just talking about this last night. About eighteen percent
of our volunteers that are currently are volunteers or former campers,
so they'll graduate through the program, they take a couple
of years off through our cit program, and they come back
and they can be volunteers. And our families are amazing.
We have family members who have now adult children who
(09:34):
are volunteers who are on our board. You know, we
have folks who run events for us because they love
camp fundraising events. You know, it's a powerful place. And
the joy that you feel when you're on site watching
kids participate in programming, it's there really aren't words to
describe it. It's really an incredible experience, and for all
(09:59):
of us staff, for our small little office team, we
have a team of seven and then countless volunteers that
come and make the programs happen, which we'll talk about later.
It's it is, it's hard to describe. It's pretty incredible,
and we're very fortunate to have this really amazing place
to work but also be able to offer the opportunity
(10:21):
to our campers and our family. It's it's pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Now, Dan, you know, myers container.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
One of the things Jeff has always prod himself on
is both giving back to the community that helped create
so much for him.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
But really kids is really the number one thing for him.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
From our involvement Boys and Girls Club and stuff, and
we Jeff makes an annual donation and has come to
Camp a number of times. You know, I, how do
you get your funding? I don't think you get any
funding from the DATA or the FED, so I assume
it's it's from people like from Myers and other companies
(10:58):
like ours, my guests.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
Yeah, that's correct, I mean we so you're right. We
don't get any state or federal funding. All of our
donations come in through generous individuals, corporations like yourself, uh,
you know, civic groups, and grants from other other groups.
You know, it's a pretty diverse funding stream. We're very
fortunate that we have a community that loves Camp and uh,
(11:22):
you know, one of the things that we do every
year is our cool one of five to come to
Thon and Joe we were talking about this earlier. You've
called him before and we've talked on the phone, and
people are you know, it's it's incredible how many people
have been touched by cancer in different ways. We have
folks who call in who know our campers intimately, their
(11:42):
family members or their neighbors. We have folks who call
in to share their own cancer story. You know, I'll
never forget one of my first cool one of five's
uh gentleman called in and and had just lost his
mom to cancer, like the Come of days earlier. I
made a donation in her memory, and it was a
(12:03):
very heartbreaking but beautiful phone call. He was very generous
with his with his story and with his donation as well,
And so those that's really cool. It's a really sort
of a concentrated dose of humanity. It's really amazing.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Well, and I think we've got some photos that we
can share with people. The location is beautiful, right pretty
much just right there on Lake Champlain, but so right.
So obviously funding donations helped make this happen, but volunteers
also help make this happen. Where do your volunteers come from?
Do you need more volunteers? How do people find out?
Speaker 5 (12:38):
But also just like big shout out to the volunteers
who do.
Speaker 4 (12:42):
Go, Yeah, our volunteers are amazing. So for our summer
program specifically, it was a fire part there. They come
from all over and we have folks that come from
as far as California to volunteer, you know, all over
the US. And for the summer program, we'll have about
one hundred and thirty lunteers on site for that program alone,
(13:03):
from all different backgrounds, right We have real estate agents, accountants, teachers,
you know, all sorts of people. It's really amazing watching
that community come together, and they're so creative and wonderful.
The example I always think of is, you know, obviously
when the world shut down for COVID, we had to
(13:24):
sort of completely pivot. How do you do camp virtually?
That's like, you know, yikes. So our volunteers they put
together a program that included things like a virtual scavenger
hunt where they took three D images of all the
buildings inside and out of camp, and kids could go
in on the on their computers and find little like
(13:47):
coins and things inside the buildings. I mean, that's amazing
that that was able to happen in such a short
amount of time. And the volunteers are really you know,
they really are the energy and the passion behind making
camp happen. Those are our program volunteers. We also have
community volunteers who help out before camp starts, who come
(14:08):
in and open camp. You know, we have one hundred
and three acres in South Hero twenty eight buildings and
that to open that up with a small team of seven,
two of which are facilities, it's a lot of work.
Mowing the lawn alone is a lot of work. And
so we're very thankful to have folks come in for
(14:29):
community days pretty consistently from all over and spend a
day or you know, a half day with us planting flowers,
mowing the lawn, painting cabins, doing that kind of stuff.
It's great. We couldn't do it without.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Them, I think.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
You know, there are so many worthy organizations all around
the state, and it's so hard from a community standpoint
to you want your dollars to go every place, but
you can't. And one of the things I'm always fascinated
by your organization is how unique some of your fundraisers
truly are and how they're not your typical you know, barbecue,
(15:06):
you know, donate fifteen dollars and come for a barbecue.
So you know, you do your motorcycle rides and you
do the phone is on. But some of the stuff
I went to a couple of events that aren't your
typical barbecue up at camp. It's kind of a higher
end lobster and shrimp boil for Aaron Our, a former
(15:26):
Southern bell here with us.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
So maybe talk a little bit about some of those
fun events you have.
Speaker 4 (15:32):
Yeah, for sure. We actually you just start a picture
of the lobster make a couple of slides back. Yeah.
We do a lobster make in August. That's a really
fun event. Lobster and State dinner with live music. It's
a great event. You mentioned the Ride Joe that's coming
up in June. We do a virtual ride, but you
can also walk, swim with someone, ride a horse. One
(15:53):
year all there is money for camp. We have a
soft ball ethon in September, which is we partner with
Cool one oh five and the Lake Monsters, and we
had Centennial Field for a full Saturday and folks can
come and pay for a team, put a team of
ten in and play for an hour at Centennial Field,
(16:14):
which as a softball guy, is like a dream. It's
so fun. So it's a great time and it raises
money for camp and sending kids to camp. And we
actually I didn't mention this before, but we actually all
of our experiences, all of our programming comes at no
charge to our campers and their families. They attend at
no cost to them. So it's important that we raise
(16:36):
pivotal funds through events, through fundraising opportunities to make sure
that camp happens for them.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
What's something about camp to come to that you'd find
your surprise people don't know, or something that you wish
more people did know.
Speaker 4 (16:52):
I think one of the common misconceptions about camp is
and I get it all the time. It's really it's
an interesting conversation.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
To have.
Speaker 4 (17:01):
People ask is it sad? Is it a sad experience?
And you know, there is a component of sadness to it.
We certainly have lost camp campers over the years, volunteers
over the years to cancer, but camp is not that's
part of the experience. For sure, it looms a little bit,
(17:21):
but it's not the experience. It's camp is this wonderful,
joyous place with singing and laughter and pranks at night.
You know, it's it is a it is a really
concentrated dose of joy and really really wonderful. So that's
(17:42):
really that's the only sort of common misconception about camp
that I offer for question.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
Yeah, I was at camp when Joe was there. We'd
go hide the stop raccoon in his room.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
Yeah, you know, fun fact. I was never a camp guy.
I never went to a camp, so you no, no,
you know, I am a city boy. You know, well,
you know sports camp and stuff like that, but no, no,
no slip away camps.
Speaker 4 (18:06):
Well, Joe, you should come come hang.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
Out, absolutely, because me riding a horse is something people
who want to see.
Speaker 4 (18:13):
All, hey, we don't have horses.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
Yeah, there you go, just to piggyback Dand though off
of what you were saying about people asking if it's
really sad, I feel like it's it's one of those
things where it's like it's it's like a sad, it's
not the right word, right, or if it is, it's
like a like a good sad. Like it's like seeing
these kids being able to like just have fun but
also be having fun with other kids who are having
(18:40):
like similar struggles to them and connect to that. I
think it's like has to be amazing because even in
their regular, you know, normal everyday lives, they're going to school,
but they're you know, maybe it's different than with the
other kids. So it's like they're able to just kind
of feel like they're one of the rest of the kids,
and they know that they're metal needs or you know,
(19:00):
people are looking out for them, but they're able to
kind of not have to sweat that but connect.
Speaker 5 (19:05):
And I'd imagine that they.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
All make these friendships and meet people that they stay
in touch with year.
Speaker 4 (19:11):
Round, right, I mean, really, you know, camp is about
community and the campers who come to camp. The cancer
journey is so unique to each person, but it is
still a cancer journey, and so you know, when you
go to camp and you meet a kid who has
gone through a similar thing, or young adult who's gone
through a similar thing, has had to miss school because
of treatments or miss out on things like their prom
(19:33):
or sports, you know, that's all that's all people can
relate to there, there's a lot of relation in that.
And the same is true for our siblings, of our
campers who come to our Siblings Program program, our parents
who attend our Moms and Dad's Weekends. You know, the
the the fear of having a child with cancer, you know,
(19:57):
during treatment, but even when they're in remission. That's that's
a unique experience that really the community of parents that
can't come to have bonded over and it's not all
about that sometimes just about being in the space together
as well, but knowing also that there's an understanding of
the experiences that everyone shares and that's that's a unique
(20:19):
and powerful community to be a part of.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
So Dan, if people who are watching listening to this
want to want to get involved, they want to donate,
they want.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
To come and experience.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
How how do people find you and and how how
do they get all of you?
Speaker 4 (20:35):
Yeah, well we're not we're not We're never far away.
But you can go to to come to dot org.
That's our website.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (20:42):
There you'll find all of our events that are coming up.
If you want to participate in one of our our
fundraising events, all of our programming opportunities are listed there
as well, with volunteer opportunities listed as well. If you
want to come to a community day with your office,
there's opportunities for that as well. I mean, it's all
right there, so that would be the spot to check out. Also,
(21:02):
we do a lot of uh posting on social media.
We're on Instagram and Facebook primarily, but check us out
there as well.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
Jo'se ah big TikTok, Guy, I recently are you I
haven't even downloaded it. I never can I now or.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
No, totally there. You know we're in that reprieve area.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
So yeah, all right, well Dan, before we let you
go last week, Joe, Joe shared with us that he
loves scouring social media when prom season rolls around his
wife and daughter.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
Right, for the record, it's my wife and daughter and
I get the side effects or the shrapnel from it,
So it's not Joe. I'll be honest on my guilty pleasures.
But yes, looking at.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
Talk Joe the prom photos he gets through his wife
in his court. So we all decided to look and
try to find some old prompts, and Dan, I know
we got you in on it. Couldn't find any prompts,
but you did find some really good throwbacks to like
high school, and so we've included those in the mix.
So Ben, when you're ready, I'm anxious to see who
we are going to see first with their promt style.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
I can just imagine.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
I know I didn't give them that much of a
heads up that I was ready to do the prompts,
so he's probably like, here, it's there, we go. Who's
it gonna be, Who's it gonna be? Look at Ben?
So this is our producer, Ben, look at you. Ben
with the with the the white suit on. I like it.
(22:39):
I like yet like though is from two thousand and one.
These are both from two thousand and one, and you
went with such different like fashion.
Speaker 6 (22:47):
Try what can I say? What can I say? I
was just that I was just that guy. I don't
know what to tell you.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
Well, and then were they all them black and white
for both of these because even the ladies bullpoint with
the what with the black dress?
Speaker 6 (23:00):
No, no, was not the it was not okay. I
don't know what happened. There was no theme. I was following.
The one on the right is an Easter suit, okay,
so that that's what that's about. And that's the one
I had, So that's what I wore. And then the
one on the left, the one on the left was
a legitimate Tucks I had to rent. It was my
first time doing that, so it's kind of a big deal.
Speaker 4 (23:21):
So that's awesome.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
The company Christmas dinner, Ben, you don't have to wear
a white suit.
Speaker 6 (23:29):
For us, I'll be ready for that. But but I
got one more. I got a couple more here, let's
let's go with the next one.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Oh, there she is, there, we go look at that.
I feel like these photos I think are like one
year apart, like junior or senior year.
Speaker 5 (23:48):
But I feel like I look like a baby in
the in the middle one.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
So what year are we talking about here?
Speaker 1 (23:53):
An, Well, so I guess it'd be two thousand and
one and then two thousand and two. All right, fun fact.
In fact, the guy in the right that was my
like longtime high school boyfriend. He and his twin brother
played lacrosse at UBM. No before I will have to
we'll have.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
To get in this on a future podcast because dating
a twin, that's uh.
Speaker 7 (24:27):
Joe, you haven't changed a bit, well, a little more
white hair, a lot more hair.
Speaker 3 (24:35):
On a fun fact here, when I don't have a
ton going for me, uh, and when I start going
a little gray, I decided to dye my hair.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
But as I'm sure Aaron.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
You know, and and Ben and everyone, you're supposed to
get permission from your spouse when you do things like that. Well,
I unfortunately didn't get it. Get permission so my wife
came home and she told me I was like a
Mexican drug aid.
Speaker 5 (25:03):
We like, you didn't need it?
Speaker 1 (25:04):
Did you go get it professionally? Died or you like
bought the box and did it yourself and were like
embarrassed to stay like, honey, let's do it together.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
Yeah. No, I did it myself. I went to CVSSI
by Faller. No. I didn't tell her.
Speaker 3 (25:17):
I just you know, because I was just starting to
go a little, a little gray, but.
Speaker 5 (25:22):
I thought like maybe no one will notice.
Speaker 3 (25:24):
Yeah, no, yeah, and it So she showed me like
a Mexican drug art. So what did you do?
Speaker 1 (25:29):
You just had to like wear it out.
Speaker 3 (25:31):
Yeah, you know, my hair grows very very fast, so
it only lasted, you know, a couple of weeks and
then since then I let it go. But yes, I
that picture nineteen ninety three. Oh so that was quite
some time ago. And do you remember your song aeron?
Speaker 1 (25:49):
Oh I feel like wonderful tonight? Was it one year?
Speaker 4 (25:55):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (25:55):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (25:55):
Classic?
Speaker 2 (25:56):
Yeah, we were take my Breath Away when great tune?
Speaker 1 (26:02):
Well and Dan, where did you grow up? Again? So?
Speaker 4 (26:04):
I grew up in Plainfield, Vermont, outside of Barry.
Speaker 5 (26:07):
So what high school was that look at this guy.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
This guy, Well, look at that computer.
Speaker 4 (26:13):
Yeah, so you do what jo is that.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
What the computer you're doing the podcast from looks like.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
You know, absolutely with the little little hamster running on
the background.
Speaker 4 (26:23):
Yeah right, you're going smoke from the back. So these
these pictures, the one in the bottom, the Carmen San
Diego sweater, it's a dead giveaway. That's that's that's middle school.
That's probably like fifth or sixth grade, if I had
to guess. Uh, top right, that's my my senior in
high school photo for the yearbook. And then the guy,
(26:46):
the guy giving the finger guns, that's that's a sophomore
in college.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
Oh my goodness, Like that's the only thing missing is
the laser background. I definitely have some school photos with
the laser background.
Speaker 4 (26:58):
Yeah, it's tremendous, I do. The computer is amazing. I
looked at a third floor walk up and I remember
carrying that thing up through flights stairs. It was really heavy.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
Now what what I'm chilli amazed by Prom twenty twenty
five and prom, you know, late nineties, early two thousands
is the whole the whole production. Now, I mean I
can remember my prom. The big deal was you know,
borrowing your parents car or you know, eight of you
going in to get a limo and everything.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
Now, you know, I.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
See I hate to be like these kids today, but
these kids today, you know, professional photography and all the.
Speaker 5 (27:34):
Pclosals, the promcosals.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
I mean that would have been you know, yeah, that
this is the whole thing.
Speaker 3 (27:41):
You know, Like a friend of my daughter's who's a
year younger, she had duck feathers in her corsage because
her boyfriend was a duck hunter. And I'm like, oh
my god, Like you know, you know another thing. Ducks
are worth for us. There's no need for it, whole
another a whole nother time.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
But it's just that much the whole production now.
Speaker 3 (28:04):
I mean, you know, of course times are changed, but
you know, look at mid nineties, you go to prom
and then you know, you depending on what part of
the country you know, you you you might have an
older sibling bya is something that you're not allowed to have,
and you go to the lake or the beach or
a hotel and you know, your parents didn't know where
(28:25):
you were. And you know, my parents were older, so
I rolled in like three o'clock and they were, oh,
you get home for curfew.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
I'm like, yeah, of course I was home for curf.
You no problem.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
He turned all the class back.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
Of course they don't, you know, they were just like whatever.
But it's a whole different experience nowadays.
Speaker 3 (28:41):
It's it's not to sound like things are better in
my day, but things are better in my day.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
Well, and so we haven't talked about kids yet. And Joe,
I don't know if you do this, but Dan has
a fourteen year old daughter who will be a freshman
next year. So he I can't wait to like follow
up with him in a couple of years and say, so, wow,
how was she proposed to for prom?
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Uh?
Speaker 4 (29:00):
Yeah, A very different experience than I had. So my
graduating class had twenty five in it. So we were
a tiny little school K twelve K twelve school, so
we had, you know, everybody went to prom. It wasn't
an exclusive thing like the kindergarten pro Yeah, even in
the preschoolers they were there too.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
Oh that was habit. What what school?
Speaker 4 (29:23):
What the problem?
Speaker 1 (29:24):
What school? Did you go to?
Speaker 4 (29:25):
Winfield four?
Speaker 2 (29:29):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (29:30):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (29:31):
Wow?
Speaker 1 (29:32):
Did you go to any other schools?
Speaker 2 (29:33):
Proms?
Speaker 1 (29:33):
I feel like great when you when when there's that
few kids, Like, I mean, you had to pick your
date and just like there's yep, that's my pick.
Speaker 3 (29:41):
Yeah we're little, so yeah, so what and you know,
talking about things that when it happened today.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
So we had a prom, but we also had a
winter ball. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
The winter ball was a day after Christmas, but it
was six families in my city hosted it, and it
was by invitation only, and it.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
Was for the three area high schools.
Speaker 3 (30:03):
Can you imagine today if there was an invitation only
for three hundred.
Speaker 2 (30:08):
Kids, like, you know, people would their mind would be blown.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
Yeah, and I'm sure it's like a huge deal if
you would get invited, Like did you get invited this year?
Speaker 5 (30:18):
It's like, I will I never got invited to.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
A bot mitzvah, but I went to school with plenty
of girls who had bought mitzvah. So there's my like
funny little thing that I was always like, Ah, my
brother went to.
Speaker 5 (30:31):
A bunch, my sister went to a bunch, But I
was like, why isn't anyone inviting me?
Speaker 2 (30:36):
I went to a couple over the top bar mitzvahs.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
I have to say, that's what it makes me think
of this party.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
Yeah, So it's just a whole nother just the whole prompting.
It's just a whole nother, a whole nother level. It's
just it's just amazing. And yeah, I had a Dan,
I had a boy and a girl, so I went
through both both sides of it.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
So it's a it's a whole, it's a whole different world.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
Hey, if I send Jack to twin Field, he can
go to prom in two years.
Speaker 4 (31:03):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
That is why.
Speaker 3 (31:06):
By the way, some doors like me would be like, oh,
seventh grader, come over here, let me show you something.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
Try the punch, Try the punch, all right, but more
this becomes not a family podcast. We are going to
say goodbye.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
Dan.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
We appreciate you coming on the show, spending your time
with us today telling us all about Camp to come
to definitely encourage people to go visit their website to
learn more and have a great time at camp. Invested
luck with Camp this summer. I hope the weather is amazing,
although I'm sure that there's rain dances and fun things
that happen when it's not. Because you just make the
(31:45):
best of everything up there Camp.
Speaker 4 (31:47):
That's right, even the rain and won't keep us down.
We have lots of fun, perfect, awesome.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
All right. That is it for this trash talking and
giving back podcast. We'll see you guys again next week.
Speaker 2 (32:01):
None none no
Hey everybody, it's Aaron Colefield Barker. Welcome to another episode
of the Trash Talking and Giving Back Podcast. This is
my co host, Joe Sinagra. He's the operations manager at
Myers Containers. This podcast all about Myers, a very family
oriented business here in Vermont, but also super involved in
(00:35):
giving back in our community. We do have a guest
for you today. We've got Dan Osman from Camp to
compt But before we get to them, Joe, You've usually
got something kind of fun for us to chit chat
about here, so I'm looking forward to hearing what we've
got this week.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Well, now, you know, I was thinking about erin.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
It's been a busy week with everything going out, so
I don't have really any on topic items for this week,
you know, because it's been a little bit of a
of a worldwin week.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Okay, fair, fair, we can just talk about what everyone's
I'm talking about, which is how it just hasn't stopped
raining forever.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
It hasn't, you know, Hopefully our flowers will start blooming
a little bit more and everything soa which which hopefully
we've seen soon.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Look at you looking for the bright side of that rain.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Well, yeah, you know I'm usually guy half glass, half
empty guy, not the other way around.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Well, you did it.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
What is it like for your guys, like on what
is the vibe like in the morning when it's just
been raining, or if it's like a miserable rainy day.
Because you do, most of your guys like they get
to see in the truck or sometimes some roots they.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Have to get out, and no, a lot of roots
they have to get out open gates, you know, for
dumpsters at gas stations in place like that, and then
we do a lot of what's called back door stops
where you have to go up and pull pull the
tots back out. I've been meaning to upload the video
though I talked about recently of the raccoon on top
(02:03):
of our trash truck driving, but it made me think,
did you see the video viral video going around of
the lady who got pulled over and the raccoon was
smoking meth in the front seat.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
So I didn't watch the video, but I saw the
like screenshot of the raccoon in the front seat.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
I'm petrified of raccoons, so it's a funny joke around
people who know me. I really don't like raccoons. I think,
you know, the world would be a better place if
we didn't have any.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Frankly, what is their purpose?
Speaker 2 (02:39):
I don't know, but.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
They say like bees pollinate the flowers, like goats eat
your grass, Like, what is the purpose you don't eat raccoon? Oh,
I guess people make hats.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
I guess I think they're they had a worse pr
director than skunks, because you hear good things about skunks,
but not raccoons.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
They come out and you would think that they I
would like them, because you know, they're they're a little grumpy,
and they come out at night, and they like to eat,
and they only you know, they act slowly and everything,
so you'd think it would be like my spirit animal.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
But no, they're just they're not.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
They're just not. Okay, Well, I'll take a raccoon over
a skunk any day.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Well likewise, likewise.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
That's I guess it seems like a good a good
time to bring Dan and we'll see we'll get his
take on raccoons over skunks. Joining us today is Dan Osman,
who is the development director at Camp to come to
it's a very busy time as they're kind of like
maybe the calm before the storm, getting ready for this
season up at camp to come to Dan before you
give us the camp to come to elevator, pitch up.
(03:44):
What it's all about though? What is your take on
raccoons versus skunks?
Speaker 4 (03:48):
Dan Osman, the development director, slash varmit expert, Right, yeah, you.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Guys probably at camp, Like is there ever? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (03:57):
Oh yeah. We have all sorts of criators at camp.
Skunks and raccoons to name a few. If I had
to pick between the two, I'm gonna be honest, I'm
gonna go raccoon. Sorry, Joe, it's smell.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
I don't want the skunk.
Speaker 4 (04:10):
Yeah, that's the thing smell. And I know people and
have experienced getting sprayed. No, thank you.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Oh no, I got to stress. You know, I'm a
city boy by trade. I don't like any wild animals.
I mean, I I'm cool with you know, bear and
raccoon and skunk and mice and rats. I mean for me,
you know, I'm you know any of those. You know,
I've been to camp a number of times and you
have all kinds of deer and raccoons and.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Mice and possums, and.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
You know, I'm good. I'm okay with all of that.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
My favorite is we have lots of rabbits at camp.
Lots of rabbits.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
That's cute.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
That's cute.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Okay, Dan, thank you for joining us on the podcast.
Super excited to hear about camp. So tell me for
someone who maybe has heard of camp to come to.
But does I really know what it's all about? What
is it all about?
Speaker 4 (05:03):
Absolutely? So, we have a year round programming for kids
and their families who are impacted by childhood cancer. All
of our campers come from New York and Vermont. Our
requirement is that you are treated at EVM Medical Center,
So we actually have a number of campers who come
from out of state as well or out of the
region as well as far as Virginia sometimes. And we
(05:25):
build programming around our campers' needs. So we have, like
I said, about a program every month for every member
of the family. We have our signature summer program, which
is for our campers. We have a siblings program in
the fall, a program for our moms, and a program
for our dads, as well as a number of family
opportunities for the entire family. And then we have winter weekends.
(05:46):
We have one in January, February, and March. And then
one of our other really exciting programs is we do
to exchange program with our sister camp, Camp Wrap a
Hope down in Mobile, Alabama. Folks down there for their
team weekend and then they send some kids up to
our weekend as well. So that's a really cool sort
of cultural exchange, which is really cool.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Well, and that's cool. I feel like a lot of
times you think camp, you naturally just kind of think summer.
So to know that there's actually stuff going on all
year long up at camp to compta's pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
Literally, I think the only month we don't have a
program is November, but really every other time we have
a program. And actually our next program coming up in
June is a new program. It's our Young Adult Survivors Programs,
the first time we're doing that. It's for campers who
have aged out of our traditional camp programming but will
(06:39):
come and have a camp program for a weekend and
talk about sort of what's going on for them, but
also have some space to go on our ropes course.
You know, maybe the pool will be open probably at
that point, be warm enough hopefully in June, so you know,
just really building in as many opportunity as we can
to build a community with our campers and their families
(06:59):
and create a proven environment for them.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
So Dan talk to us about how many kids participate
in an annual basis and how they come to you,
you know, how do they find you and how the
process works.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
Yeah, so we annually we serve about ninety families from
Vermont and New York specifically, and then from out of
state as well. Like I mentioned, the referral process, it's
sort of dependent. We did a lot of referrals from
UVM Medical Center. We have a really close connection with
the Children's hospital there, but really anyone can refer a camper.
(07:36):
What we then do is then work with the children's
hospital to make sure that we have all their medical
needs met. It's hard to quantify how many people ninety
families is because we'll have campers who will engage in
our summer camp program, but then also our winter weekends,
we'll have a mom and a dad or a guardian
participate in moms and dads, and then we'll have siblings
(07:58):
as well, so we're really and also we have a
family fun day in May that forgot to mention and
that's for the entire family, extended family as well, So
really a lot of opportunities to connect with different members
of the family and bring them to camp and have
a good time for.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
You and everyone who works there, I'm sure that right.
It's it's a very fun place to work, but also
like rewarding and just seeing the kids and how much
fun they're having in smiles on their faces when we
know that these are you know, children who have a
lot more on their plate than any parent hopes their
child will have to have on their plate. So what
(08:34):
is that like, you know, for you and the other
people who work there every year? And then I'm sure
kids you know who who've maybe survived cancer and come
out of it maybe come back and visit.
Speaker 5 (08:43):
Like just how much pride you guys taken in.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
The good that you do.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
Yeah, it's amazing and it's an amazing place. You know,
we talk about this a lot, but how you can
talk about camp, but really when you come on the
property and you see programs in action, that's when you
really feel that intense emotion of how wonderful it is.
We have folks that are deeply committed to our programming.
Our campers will often come back as volunteers. We actually
(09:12):
were just talking about this last night. About eighteen percent
of our volunteers that are currently are volunteers or former campers,
so they'll graduate through the program, they take a couple
of years off through our cit program, and they come back
and they can be volunteers. And our families are amazing.
We have family members who have now adult children who
(09:34):
are volunteers who are on our board. You know, we
have folks who run events for us because they love
camp fundraising events. You know, it's a powerful place. And
the joy that you feel when you're on site watching
kids participate in programming, it's there really aren't words to
describe it. It's really an incredible experience, and for all
(09:59):
of us staff, for our small little office team, we
have a team of seven and then countless volunteers that
come and make the programs happen, which we'll talk about later.
It's it is, it's hard to describe. It's pretty incredible,
and we're very fortunate to have this really amazing place
to work but also be able to offer the opportunity
(10:21):
to our campers and our family. It's it's pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Now, Dan, you know, myers container.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
One of the things Jeff has always prod himself on
is both giving back to the community that helped create
so much for him.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
But really kids is really the number one thing for him.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
From our involvement Boys and Girls Club and stuff, and
we Jeff makes an annual donation and has come to
Camp a number of times. You know, I, how do
you get your funding? I don't think you get any
funding from the DATA or the FED, so I assume
it's it's from people like from Myers and other companies
(10:58):
like ours, my guests.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
Yeah, that's correct, I mean we so you're right. We
don't get any state or federal funding. All of our
donations come in through generous individuals, corporations like yourself, uh,
you know, civic groups, and grants from other other groups.
You know, it's a pretty diverse funding stream. We're very
fortunate that we have a community that loves Camp and uh,
(11:22):
you know, one of the things that we do every
year is our cool one of five to come to
Thon and Joe we were talking about this earlier. You've
called him before and we've talked on the phone, and
people are you know, it's it's incredible how many people
have been touched by cancer in different ways. We have
folks who call in who know our campers intimately, their
(11:42):
family members or their neighbors. We have folks who call
in to share their own cancer story. You know, I'll
never forget one of my first cool one of five's
uh gentleman called in and and had just lost his
mom to cancer, like the Come of days earlier. I
made a donation in her memory, and it was a
(12:03):
very heartbreaking but beautiful phone call. He was very generous
with his with his story and with his donation as well,
And so those that's really cool. It's a really sort
of a concentrated dose of humanity. It's really amazing.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Well, and I think we've got some photos that we
can share with people. The location is beautiful, right pretty
much just right there on Lake Champlain, but so right.
So obviously funding donations helped make this happen, but volunteers
also help make this happen. Where do your volunteers come from?
Do you need more volunteers? How do people find out?
Speaker 5 (12:38):
But also just like big shout out to the volunteers
who do.
Speaker 4 (12:42):
Go, Yeah, our volunteers are amazing. So for our summer
program specifically, it was a fire part there. They come
from all over and we have folks that come from
as far as California to volunteer, you know, all over
the US. And for the summer program, we'll have about
one hundred and thirty lunteers on site for that program alone,
(13:03):
from all different backgrounds, right We have real estate agents, accountants, teachers,
you know, all sorts of people. It's really amazing watching
that community come together, and they're so creative and wonderful.
The example I always think of is, you know, obviously
when the world shut down for COVID, we had to
(13:24):
sort of completely pivot. How do you do camp virtually?
That's like, you know, yikes. So our volunteers they put
together a program that included things like a virtual scavenger
hunt where they took three D images of all the
buildings inside and out of camp, and kids could go
in on the on their computers and find little like
(13:47):
coins and things inside the buildings. I mean, that's amazing
that that was able to happen in such a short
amount of time. And the volunteers are really you know,
they really are the energy and the passion behind making
camp happen. Those are our program volunteers. We also have
community volunteers who help out before camp starts, who come
(14:08):
in and open camp. You know, we have one hundred
and three acres in South Hero twenty eight buildings and
that to open that up with a small team of seven,
two of which are facilities, it's a lot of work.
Mowing the lawn alone is a lot of work. And
so we're very thankful to have folks come in for
(14:29):
community days pretty consistently from all over and spend a
day or you know, a half day with us planting flowers,
mowing the lawn, painting cabins, doing that kind of stuff.
It's great. We couldn't do it without.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Them, I think.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
You know, there are so many worthy organizations all around
the state, and it's so hard from a community standpoint
to you want your dollars to go every place, but
you can't. And one of the things I'm always fascinated
by your organization is how unique some of your fundraisers
truly are and how they're not your typical you know, barbecue,
(15:06):
you know, donate fifteen dollars and come for a barbecue.
So you know, you do your motorcycle rides and you
do the phone is on. But some of the stuff
I went to a couple of events that aren't your
typical barbecue up at camp. It's kind of a higher
end lobster and shrimp boil for Aaron Our, a former
(15:26):
Southern bell here with us.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
So maybe talk a little bit about some of those
fun events you have.
Speaker 4 (15:32):
Yeah, for sure. We actually you just start a picture
of the lobster make a couple of slides back. Yeah.
We do a lobster make in August. That's a really
fun event. Lobster and State dinner with live music. It's
a great event. You mentioned the Ride Joe that's coming
up in June. We do a virtual ride, but you
can also walk, swim with someone, ride a horse. One
(15:53):
year all there is money for camp. We have a
soft ball ethon in September, which is we partner with
Cool one oh five and the Lake Monsters, and we
had Centennial Field for a full Saturday and folks can
come and pay for a team, put a team of
ten in and play for an hour at Centennial Field,
(16:14):
which as a softball guy, is like a dream. It's
so fun. So it's a great time and it raises
money for camp and sending kids to camp. And we
actually I didn't mention this before, but we actually all
of our experiences, all of our programming comes at no
charge to our campers and their families. They attend at
no cost to them. So it's important that we raise
(16:36):
pivotal funds through events, through fundraising opportunities to make sure
that camp happens for them.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
What's something about camp to come to that you'd find
your surprise people don't know, or something that you wish
more people did know.
Speaker 4 (16:52):
I think one of the common misconceptions about camp is
and I get it all the time. It's really it's
an interesting conversation.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
To have.
Speaker 4 (17:01):
People ask is it sad? Is it a sad experience?
And you know, there is a component of sadness to it.
We certainly have lost camp campers over the years, volunteers
over the years to cancer, but camp is not that's
part of the experience. For sure, it looms a little bit,
(17:21):
but it's not the experience. It's camp is this wonderful,
joyous place with singing and laughter and pranks at night.
You know, it's it is a it is a really
concentrated dose of joy and really really wonderful. So that's
(17:42):
really that's the only sort of common misconception about camp
that I offer for question.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
Yeah, I was at camp when Joe was there. We'd
go hide the stop raccoon in his room.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
Yeah, you know, fun fact. I was never a camp guy.
I never went to a camp, so you no, no,
you know, I am a city boy. You know, well,
you know sports camp and stuff like that, but no, no,
no slip away camps.
Speaker 4 (18:06):
Well, Joe, you should come come hang.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
Out, absolutely, because me riding a horse is something people
who want to see.
Speaker 4 (18:13):
All, hey, we don't have horses.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
Yeah, there you go, just to piggyback Dand though off
of what you were saying about people asking if it's
really sad, I feel like it's it's one of those
things where it's like it's it's like a sad, it's
not the right word, right, or if it is, it's
like a like a good sad. Like it's like seeing
these kids being able to like just have fun but
also be having fun with other kids who are having
(18:40):
like similar struggles to them and connect to that. I
think it's like has to be amazing because even in
their regular, you know, normal everyday lives, they're going to school,
but they're you know, maybe it's different than with the
other kids. So it's like they're able to just kind
of feel like they're one of the rest of the kids,
and they know that they're metal needs or you know,
(19:00):
people are looking out for them, but they're able to
kind of not have to sweat that but connect.
Speaker 5 (19:05):
And I'd imagine that they.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
All make these friendships and meet people that they stay
in touch with year.
Speaker 4 (19:11):
Round, right, I mean, really, you know, camp is about
community and the campers who come to camp. The cancer
journey is so unique to each person, but it is
still a cancer journey, and so you know, when you
go to camp and you meet a kid who has
gone through a similar thing, or young adult who's gone
through a similar thing, has had to miss school because
of treatments or miss out on things like their prom
(19:33):
or sports, you know, that's all that's all people can
relate to there, there's a lot of relation in that.
And the same is true for our siblings, of our
campers who come to our Siblings Program program, our parents
who attend our Moms and Dad's Weekends. You know, the
the the fear of having a child with cancer, you know,
(19:57):
during treatment, but even when they're in remission. That's that's
a unique experience that really the community of parents that
can't come to have bonded over and it's not all
about that sometimes just about being in the space together
as well, but knowing also that there's an understanding of
the experiences that everyone shares and that's that's a unique
(20:19):
and powerful community to be a part of.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
So Dan, if people who are watching listening to this
want to want to get involved, they want to donate,
they want.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
To come and experience.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
How how do people find you and and how how
do they get all of you?
Speaker 4 (20:35):
Yeah, well we're not we're not We're never far away.
But you can go to to come to dot org.
That's our website.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (20:42):
There you'll find all of our events that are coming up.
If you want to participate in one of our our
fundraising events, all of our programming opportunities are listed there
as well, with volunteer opportunities listed as well. If you
want to come to a community day with your office,
there's opportunities for that as well. I mean, it's all
right there, so that would be the spot to check out. Also,
(21:02):
we do a lot of uh posting on social media.
We're on Instagram and Facebook primarily, but check us out
there as well.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
Jo'se ah big TikTok, Guy, I recently are you I
haven't even downloaded it. I never can I now or.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
No, totally there. You know we're in that reprieve area.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
So yeah, all right, well Dan, before we let you
go last week, Joe, Joe shared with us that he
loves scouring social media when prom season rolls around his
wife and daughter.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
Right, for the record, it's my wife and daughter and
I get the side effects or the shrapnel from it,
So it's not Joe. I'll be honest on my guilty pleasures.
But yes, looking at.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
Talk Joe the prom photos he gets through his wife
in his court. So we all decided to look and
try to find some old prompts, and Dan, I know
we got you in on it. Couldn't find any prompts,
but you did find some really good throwbacks to like
high school, and so we've included those in the mix.
So Ben, when you're ready, I'm anxious to see who
we are going to see first with their promt style.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
I can just imagine.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
I know I didn't give them that much of a
heads up that I was ready to do the prompts,
so he's probably like, here, it's there, we go. Who's
it gonna be, Who's it gonna be? Look at Ben?
So this is our producer, Ben, look at you. Ben
with the with the the white suit on. I like it.
(22:39):
I like yet like though is from two thousand and one.
These are both from two thousand and one, and you
went with such different like fashion.
Speaker 6 (22:47):
Try what can I say? What can I say? I
was just that I was just that guy. I don't
know what to tell you.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
Well, and then were they all them black and white
for both of these because even the ladies bullpoint with
the what with the black dress?
Speaker 6 (23:00):
No, no, was not the it was not okay. I
don't know what happened. There was no theme. I was following.
The one on the right is an Easter suit, okay,
so that that's what that's about. And that's the one
I had, So that's what I wore. And then the
one on the left, the one on the left was
a legitimate Tucks I had to rent. It was my
first time doing that, so it's kind of a big deal.
Speaker 4 (23:21):
So that's awesome.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
The company Christmas dinner, Ben, you don't have to wear
a white suit.
Speaker 6 (23:29):
For us, I'll be ready for that. But but I
got one more. I got a couple more here, let's
let's go with the next one.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Oh, there she is, there, we go look at that.
I feel like these photos I think are like one
year apart, like junior or senior year.
Speaker 5 (23:48):
But I feel like I look like a baby in
the in the middle one.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
So what year are we talking about here?
Speaker 1 (23:53):
An, Well, so I guess it'd be two thousand and
one and then two thousand and two. All right, fun fact.
In fact, the guy in the right that was my
like longtime high school boyfriend. He and his twin brother
played lacrosse at UBM. No before I will have to
we'll have.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
To get in this on a future podcast because dating
a twin, that's uh.
Speaker 7 (24:27):
Joe, you haven't changed a bit, well, a little more
white hair, a lot more hair.
Speaker 3 (24:35):
On a fun fact here, when I don't have a
ton going for me, uh, and when I start going
a little gray, I decided to dye my hair.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
But as I'm sure Aaron.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
You know, and and Ben and everyone, you're supposed to
get permission from your spouse when you do things like that. Well,
I unfortunately didn't get it. Get permission so my wife
came home and she told me I was like a
Mexican drug aid.
Speaker 5 (25:03):
We like, you didn't need it?
Speaker 1 (25:04):
Did you go get it professionally? Died or you like
bought the box and did it yourself and were like
embarrassed to stay like, honey, let's do it together.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
Yeah. No, I did it myself. I went to CVSSI
by Faller. No. I didn't tell her.
Speaker 3 (25:17):
I just you know, because I was just starting to
go a little, a little gray, but.
Speaker 5 (25:22):
I thought like maybe no one will notice.
Speaker 3 (25:24):
Yeah, no, yeah, and it So she showed me like
a Mexican drug art. So what did you do?
Speaker 1 (25:29):
You just had to like wear it out.
Speaker 3 (25:31):
Yeah, you know, my hair grows very very fast, so
it only lasted, you know, a couple of weeks and
then since then I let it go. But yes, I
that picture nineteen ninety three. Oh so that was quite
some time ago. And do you remember your song aeron?
Speaker 1 (25:49):
Oh I feel like wonderful tonight? Was it one year?
Speaker 4 (25:55):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (25:55):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (25:55):
Classic?
Speaker 2 (25:56):
Yeah, we were take my Breath Away when great tune?
Speaker 1 (26:02):
Well and Dan, where did you grow up? Again? So?
Speaker 4 (26:04):
I grew up in Plainfield, Vermont, outside of Barry.
Speaker 5 (26:07):
So what high school was that look at this guy.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
This guy, Well, look at that computer.
Speaker 4 (26:13):
Yeah, so you do what jo is that.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
What the computer you're doing the podcast from looks like.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
You know, absolutely with the little little hamster running on
the background.
Speaker 4 (26:23):
Yeah right, you're going smoke from the back. So these
these pictures, the one in the bottom, the Carmen San
Diego sweater, it's a dead giveaway. That's that's that's middle school.
That's probably like fifth or sixth grade, if I had
to guess. Uh, top right, that's my my senior in
high school photo for the yearbook. And then the guy,
(26:46):
the guy giving the finger guns, that's that's a sophomore
in college.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
Oh my goodness, Like that's the only thing missing is
the laser background. I definitely have some school photos with
the laser background.
Speaker 4 (26:58):
Yeah, it's tremendous, I do. The computer is amazing. I
looked at a third floor walk up and I remember
carrying that thing up through flights stairs. It was really heavy.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
Now what what I'm chilli amazed by Prom twenty twenty
five and prom, you know, late nineties, early two thousands
is the whole the whole production. Now, I mean I
can remember my prom. The big deal was you know,
borrowing your parents car or you know, eight of you
going in to get a limo and everything.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
Now, you know, I.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
See I hate to be like these kids today, but
these kids today, you know, professional photography and all the.
Speaker 5 (27:34):
Pclosals, the promcosals.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
I mean that would have been you know, yeah, that
this is the whole thing.
Speaker 3 (27:41):
You know, Like a friend of my daughter's who's a
year younger, she had duck feathers in her corsage because
her boyfriend was a duck hunter. And I'm like, oh
my god, Like you know, you know another thing. Ducks
are worth for us. There's no need for it, whole
another a whole nother time.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
But it's just that much the whole production now.
Speaker 3 (28:04):
I mean, you know, of course times are changed, but
you know, look at mid nineties, you go to prom
and then you know, you depending on what part of
the country you know, you you you might have an
older sibling bya is something that you're not allowed to have,
and you go to the lake or the beach or
a hotel and you know, your parents didn't know where
(28:25):
you were. And you know, my parents were older, so
I rolled in like three o'clock and they were, oh,
you get home for curfew.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
I'm like, yeah, of course I was home for curf.
You no problem.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
He turned all the class back.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
Of course they don't, you know, they were just like whatever.
But it's a whole different experience nowadays.
Speaker 3 (28:41):
It's it's not to sound like things are better in
my day, but things are better in my day.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
Well, and so we haven't talked about kids yet. And Joe,
I don't know if you do this, but Dan has
a fourteen year old daughter who will be a freshman
next year. So he I can't wait to like follow
up with him in a couple of years and say, so, wow,
how was she proposed to for prom?
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Uh?
Speaker 4 (29:00):
Yeah, A very different experience than I had. So my
graduating class had twenty five in it. So we were
a tiny little school K twelve K twelve school, so
we had, you know, everybody went to prom. It wasn't
an exclusive thing like the kindergarten pro Yeah, even in
the preschoolers they were there too.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
Oh that was habit. What what school?
Speaker 4 (29:23):
What the problem?
Speaker 1 (29:24):
What school? Did you go to?
Speaker 4 (29:25):
Winfield four?
Speaker 2 (29:29):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (29:30):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (29:31):
Wow?
Speaker 1 (29:32):
Did you go to any other schools?
Speaker 2 (29:33):
Proms?
Speaker 1 (29:33):
I feel like great when you when when there's that
few kids, Like, I mean, you had to pick your
date and just like there's yep, that's my pick.
Speaker 3 (29:41):
Yeah we're little, so yeah, so what and you know,
talking about things that when it happened today.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
So we had a prom, but we also had a
winter ball. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
The winter ball was a day after Christmas, but it
was six families in my city hosted it, and it
was by invitation only, and it.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
Was for the three area high schools.
Speaker 3 (30:03):
Can you imagine today if there was an invitation only
for three hundred.
Speaker 2 (30:08):
Kids, like, you know, people would their mind would be blown.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
Yeah, and I'm sure it's like a huge deal if
you would get invited, Like did you get invited this year?
Speaker 5 (30:18):
It's like, I will I never got invited to.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
A bot mitzvah, but I went to school with plenty
of girls who had bought mitzvah. So there's my like
funny little thing that I was always like, Ah, my
brother went to.
Speaker 5 (30:31):
A bunch, my sister went to a bunch, But I
was like, why isn't anyone inviting me?
Speaker 2 (30:36):
I went to a couple over the top bar mitzvahs.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
I have to say, that's what it makes me think
of this party.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
Yeah, So it's just a whole nother just the whole prompting.
It's just a whole nother, a whole nother level. It's
just it's just amazing. And yeah, I had a Dan,
I had a boy and a girl, so I went
through both both sides of it.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
So it's a it's a whole, it's a whole different world.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
Hey, if I send Jack to twin Field, he can
go to prom in two years.
Speaker 4 (31:03):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
That is why.
Speaker 3 (31:06):
By the way, some doors like me would be like, oh,
seventh grader, come over here, let me show you something.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
Try the punch, Try the punch, all right, but more
this becomes not a family podcast. We are going to
say goodbye.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
Dan.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
We appreciate you coming on the show, spending your time
with us today telling us all about Camp to come
to definitely encourage people to go visit their website to
learn more and have a great time at camp. Invested
luck with Camp this summer. I hope the weather is amazing,
although I'm sure that there's rain dances and fun things
that happen when it's not. Because you just make the
(31:45):
best of everything up there Camp.
Speaker 4 (31:47):
That's right, even the rain and won't keep us down.
We have lots of fun, perfect, awesome.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
All right. That is it for this trash talking and
giving back podcast. We'll see you guys again next week.
Speaker 2 (32:01):
None none no
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Football’s funniest family duo — Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs — team up to provide next-level access to life in the league as it unfolds. The two brothers and Super Bowl champions drop weekly insights about the weekly slate of games and share their INSIDE perspectives on trending NFL news and sports headlines. They also endlessly rag on each other as brothers do, chat the latest in pop culture and welcome some very popular and well-known friends to chat with them. Check out new episodes every Wednesday. Follow New Heights on the Wondery App, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free, and get exclusive content on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And join our new membership for a unique fan experience by going to the New Heights YouTube channel now!