*Edited to bump the Key Foundation URL to buy the book

Speaking of keeping up connections, and nurturing relationships:

Many of you have a summer camp or other institution you went to as a child, youth, or young adult; for me, it was Wah-Tut-Ca Scout Reservation in Northwood, New Hampshire.

I was fortunate that the group I grew up with at that camp has stuck together for the last 25-plus years. Through high schools, colleges, marriages, children, and even a loss of one of the gang on 9/11, we have remained a tight-night gang.

Now, think about someone writing a book about that summer camp and publishing it. That’s what our group did for Wah-Tut-Ca. The Key Foundation, a fundraising group we started 20 years ago, has just published “Wah-Tut-Ca Scout Reservation,” part of the Images of America series through Arcadia Press.

This book is written by some of our own, and preserves the memories of this great camp, back to its founding 70 years ago. Best of all, its sale is being used to raise funds for a new boathouse, which will be named after our departed brother, Andrew Curry Green, another kindred spirit who passed–on 9/11–way too soon.

We have high hopes for the project– and our looking forward to the book I haven’t even got my copy yet! If this sort of thing– the book, the cause, or both– intrigues you at all, you can buy from the Key Foundation Website, which nets more charity money than Amazon.

So– how have you nurtured your childhood relationships? There is a lot of value in keeping them going…

Technorati Tags: Boy+Scouts, books, WahTutCa, Summer+Camp, 911, Andrew+Curry+Green, Northwood, New+Hampshire, Arcadia+Press

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Don’t you hate randomly-named blogs? Well, let me tell you what Gischeleman means. It is a word — from the language of the Delaware tribe, or in their language, the Lenape.

Gischeleman means “to create with the mind,” an appropriate term for many of the things I have done in life, from my decade-plus in public radio, to high-tech PR, through the latest social media innovations that have conspired to smush all these past lives together.

I was given this name through a fraternal organization of the Boy Scouts called the Order of the Arrow, which uses the Lenape as an inspiration and its language as its glossary. The OA bestows names on youth (and adult) members who achieve the “Vigil Honor” status. I was given Gischeleman, which was translated in my case as “vision maker,” which I must admit is an even cooler definition than the more common one cited above. It is heartening that name my peers gave me has come to stick through the last 20 years. Amazing, isn’t it?

By the way, while I do not remain active in Scouts for a variety of reason, I do participate in a non-profit organization, called the Key Foundation, which supports Order of the Arrow programs and the local Scout Camps in my original home region of Lowell, MA and surrounding areas. In fact, we are publishing a book about the rich history of our favorite summer camp, Wah-Tut-Ca, the proceeds of which will go to build a new boat house for the camp– information in the previous link but pre-order here if you like (it will be on Amazon as well).

Anyway, that’s why I stuck this unusual word on the name of my blog. Any questions?