For more than 40 years, the Adventure Guides has been one of the Westchester Family YMCA’s most popular programs and has created a place for fathers and their children to have quality bonding time. For dads with kids in kindergarten through third grade, the program provides a place for fun and memory-making through outdoor adventures, camping trips and monthly meetings with other local families that make up your “Circle.” The once robust program that boasted up to 200 families participating at any given time, however, is now down to just a handful of participants, something a core group of Y volunteers, including Jörg Rose, Thomas Muehlherr and Gregg Lander are working on fixing.
“The pandemic hit us like a ton of bricks, and then a lot of participants aged out at the same time,” said Lander. “Since we couldn’t meet in person, we did some virtual things and we tried, but the program suffered.”
He says before the pandemic, the Adventure Guides were thriving, and families had the opportunities to do a lot of “cool stuff” when their Circles came together, like community potlucks, service projects, ice skating, a scooter rodeo and more. An annual Pinewood Derby gave kids the chance to work with their dads to make miniature wooden cars and then race them on a custom track at the YMCA Annex, a day many looked forward to with excitement.
The most special part of the Adventure Guides experience though is the camping trips.
The men hope that by sharing about the program and inviting local families to an upcoming camping weekend on March 18, they’ll get more fellow Westchester/Playa dads excited about participating in Adventure Guides and ensure the local tradition lives on. Once the program is ready to start up again later this summer, they’d love to have tons of new families joining in on the fun.
“The winter camp facility is amazing,” said Rose, who participates with two of his kids in Adventure Guides. “Sometimes there is snow, and the kids love playing outside. They enjoy the freedom. I grew up in a small town where we had the freedom to play outside all day, but kids don’t have that in L.A. At camp, the kids get to explore, they are enjoying nature, playing with reptiles and creating really great memories.”
During the weekend at Camp Whittle, located in the San Bernardino mountains, Muehlherr says activities include rope courses, archery, a petting zoo, skits, hiking, campfire songs, and of course, lots of s’mores! Sometimes the camp is a winter wonderland, and the kids have a blast playing in the snow. There’s also a candy store the kids enjoy visiting, and they take pride in having the autonomy to visit by themselves in a safe environment. He calls the experience full of “nostalgia and wholesomeness.”
While the volunteers work on bolstering up the Adventure Guides, whole families can participate in the camping trip this year, as long as there is one member in the family within the program’s age range (kindergarten through third grade). But for moms that just want to stay home, this is a great opportunity to have a quiet weekend to themselves and have the dads take on all the responsibility of caring for the kids for a few days, they say.
“One of my favorite memories was seeing my daughter graduate the program,” said Lander. “You see the kids taking things so seriously and you know that a real concrete memory is being formed right there.”
The Adventure Guides Winter Family Camp will take place on March 18 through March 20 at Camp Whittle with lodge-style accommodations. The camp is open to all families with at least one child in grades K-3. Space is limited, and the cost to attend is $275 for non-members and $225 for YMCA members. Registration includes lodging, meals and activities. For more info, visit westchesterymca.tiny.us/WinFamilyCamp.
Learn more about the Westchester Family YMCA’s other programs, activities and community initiatives at ymcala.org/wc.
Posted February 2022.
Pictured at top: Kids and their dads gather for a group meeting at Camp Whittle.