Ancillary services: the nuts and bolts of camp operations.

Ancillary, as defined by Webster, means "helping; auxiliary.n.a helper." Ancillary services are essential to most traditional camps and conference centers. An experienced program director knows that, no matter how good the program is, if campers or clients are not housed comfortably and fed well the whole experience will be unsuccessful.

When fellow camp directors or managers share experiences, they often find that reasons given for a "bad season" sound like this: "My nurse quit the day before the first session..." or "The head cook decided she's had enough rural living for a while..." Sound familiar? The ancillary services staff is the skeleton upon which a quality youth development or client conference program is built.

A brief look at the American Camping Association Standards for Day and Resident Camps would make clear to a person unfamiliar with the camp profession the importance of ancillary services. Approximately 57 percent of the standards for camp accreditation deal directly with how we plan and provide for the behind-the-scenes details of camp.

Last December, I received a printed Christmas letter from a friend who had, at one time, directed programs at a site I managed. He moved to Texas to take a job as the site director of a small camp and conference center. He and his wife learned bookkeeping, scheduling for off-season groups, billing, and many other office tasks, in addition to the maintenance and care of the new site. In a hand written note at the end of the letter he said, "Now I'm at the door welcoming groups in to use my site; makes me appreciate all you had to put up with."

As my friend's comment illustrates, the perspective of the people who have responsibility for delivery of services such as food service, health care, and maintenance, is certainly different from those who design and deliver programs. Both perspectives are important to the complete camp experience.

Staff members must work together as a team to create a successful program. Staff make camp happen. The articles in this issue of Camping Magazine were selected to provide the whole staff - service providers and program people alike - an educational common ground.

Whether a site is managed by owners, a board of directors, a committee, or some combination of these, it behooves the decision makers to involve both the service providers and the program directors as full partners in the development of their sites and programs. Because they bring different perspectives to the table, service providers and program directors are all powerful resources who can help develop and meet long range goals.

An interesting twist of life's path has brought my friend back from Texas to "my site" where he has accepted the site management position. I now have the luxury of working on education programs full time. We have reversed our roles. I have high hopes for this team's success because we have each had the opportunity to walk in the other's shoes.

Our guest editor, Virginia Thompson, is a member of Camping Magazine's editorial advisory board. She is the education specialist for the Oregon State University Extension Service, Oregon 4-H Center, and is an active American Camping Association volunteer.