'Cultivating Values'

Staten Island has New York City's only Catholic sleep-away summer camp

BY JULIA MARTIN

A Catholic sleep-away summer camp within the New York City limits that's been in existence for 50 years! That's the distinction held by Camp St. Edward on Staten Island, where the Franciscan Handmaids of the Most Pure Heart of Mary have been giving disadvantaged and urban children a scenic escape from the hot, noisy streets of the inner city for half a century.

The serene approach to the camp sets the tone‹a quiet country lane meandering up from busy Hylan Boulevard under a leafy arch of tall trees. At the top, eight acres of greenery stretch along a bluff, offering a breathtaking view across the Raritan Bay to Sandy Hook, N.J.

The Handmaids of Mary, whose motherhouse is in Harlem, inherited the sleep-over cabins when they acquired the land for their novitiate in 1948. During World War II, the cabins, with their sturdy steel bunk beds, housed soldiers at the site, then known as Camp Pratt.

Each year, the camp, with its 13 cabins, operates from early July to mid-August, with Sister Vincent Marie Wilson, F.H.M., as administrator. Each two-week session can accommodate up to 100 boys and girls, ages 6 through 10, regardless of religious denomination.

Five years ago a day camp was added which enrolls up to 100 children ages 6 to 14.

Every Wednesday night, day campers may choose to stay overnight. Day camper Erika Roman, 10, a fifth-grader at St. Sylvester's on Staten Island, said the evening is such fun that she enrolled in the sleep-away camp for the next two-week session.

"We have dinner, we have to take showers, then we play bingo, we have a couple of games, we have canteen in the mess hall‹a snack like pizza‹and we go to sleep about 10:30," Erika said.

"In the morning before breakfast, we say our morning prayers in front of the statue of Mary‹the Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be‹and then we say the Pledge of Allegiance," she said.

Activities during the day include Bible study, swimming, arts and crafts, outdoor sports, games, movies, trips, aerobics, math, computers and reading.

The resulting financial contributions, grants, and donations of labor and material, have added a regulation-size ball field, gazebo, promenade deck, scenic overlook, two playgrounds, pool, cabin renovations, computers, bathhouse and other improvements.

"God has been good to us," Sister Vincent Marie said, "and the people of Staten Island‹I'm telling you‹where there is a need, you always find somebody ready to help. They're super-special."

Joseph Mandarino, president of the Friends of Camp St. Edward, which helps to raise funds, said, "I was originally moved by Sister's belief‹'the Lord will provide.' That inspired people to do a little extra. Not being demanding, and just being thankful for every little bit you do, encourages you to do more."

Sister Vincent Marie said, "I get several calls a week from real estate developers looking to buy our land. They would like tomorrow to build town houses or luxury homes on our property."

She said, "If this land is good enough for developers, it's even better for us. I think we need to develop it and have the community use it and do something good with it."

She said, for example, "From about March until the camp opens, the ball field is filled with kids from the community every evening. We have somebody from the community who supervises it to make sure it's safe."

Meanwhile, Sister Vincent Marie is nurturing a dream. She wants to convert Sister Eugenia Hall, the camp's largest building, into a catering facility, with a commercial kitchen and accommodations for up to 250 people from October through May. The estimated cost is $250,000.

She hopes revenue from such a catering hall will cover the upkeep and maintenance of the grounds, so she can keep alive the spirit of Camp St. Edward.

That spirit was described by camp counselor Jeff Seguritan, 17, a senior at Regis High School in Manhattan, in his essay in the camp newsletter he produces, titled "Cabin Fever."

"Camp St. Edward is more than a playground," he wrote. "It's a discipline.

"As a counselor, I see myself as an enforcer of that discipline," he said. He spoke of giving the children what they need as opposed to what they want, teaching them how to give without asking something in return, how to cooperate and share instead of bickering and fighting, and teaching them right from wrong, and making sure they've understood it.

He said, "Ultimately, it's the spirit of cultivating values within children that invigorates the meaning of counseling and ensures the legacy of Camp St. Edward."