Wednesday, January 6, 2016

House In The Wood Honored for Program Excellence by American Camp Association

House In The Wood is proud to announce that its Summer Camp program has been selected for the Eleanor P. Eells Award for Program Excellence. Our Summer Camp program has recently been recognized at the state and regional levels, but this national award from the American Camp Association is an especially high honor.


From ACA:

Eleanor P. Eells Awards for Program Excellence are designed to honor camp programs that:


  1. Develop effective, creative responses to the needs of people and/or societal problems using the camp environment,  
  2. Encourage continued development of such ideas,
  3. Stimulate the exchange of creative ideas, and/or
  4. Present to the public examples of positive contributions camp has made on the well being of individuals and society


The award will be presented at the ACA National Convention on February 9, 2016. We at House In The Wood and Northwestern Settlement are very proud to be the recipients of such an honor. We are proud of the Summer Camp program and the people who earned it. The inspiring programming and transformative experiences provided at House In The Wood are a vital component of our mission as an organization. This award strengthens our resolve to always reach higher for our campers.

We thank our staff, volunteers, supporters and the community whose tremendous efforts make Summer Camp possible. This honor is for all of you.

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

House In The Wood is ACA Accredited

House In The Wood has been accredited by the American Camp Association for many years. But those familiar with the ACA's accreditation process know that this mark of accountability does not last a lifetime; camps must work to keep it! ACA accredited camps are visited during programming once every three years and assessed on an exhaustive battery of guidelines and standards. House In The Wood was visited this past summer and we passed our assessment with flying colors!

The ACA Accreditation standards are focused on the safety and well being of campers, staff and the facilities and environment that make up the camp. Compliance with these standards is what allows House In The Wood to provide the safe, nurturing environment to its campers year after year. There are many standards and they are assessed strictly, so we are proud of the hard work of our staff in keeping House In The Wood in full compliance.