Campers may receive letters, care packages, and emails.  If you are sending a letter or package, don’t forget to write your child’s name on it.

When sending letters and packages :

Camper Name
Camp Sancta Maria
5361 West M-32 
Gaylord, MI 49735

(Please be sure to include the West part of the address. Mail/packages may not be received if the West is omitted.)

During the online registration and at check-in you will have the opportunity to register your camper for email delivery ($5 fee).  Emails will be printed and delivered by office staff.  Note that the contents of emails may be seen by office staff.

Many of our counselors were once campers at CSM themselves.  It’s not uncommon for a 20-year old counselor to have been attending CSM for over half of his life.  In these cases, we are familiar with the young men and women who apply and know their families very well.  Often these counselors have worked for us as counselors-in-training, so we know them from that capacity as well.

We also recruit counselors from area universities like Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio, and from seminaries such as Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, Michigan.  In 2018, we were excited to welcome 6 seminarians to our staff!  All of our staff undergo a background check before beginning to work at CSM.

Working as a camp counselor is perfect training for a young person who is pursuing a degree in education or any other people-intensive field.  Working as a camp counselor is also good training for parenthood.  They are asked to give and give and give!  A work experience such as this one brings tremendous formation to the person.

It’s not unusual and can happen at almost any age.  Our counselors are specially trained and are sensitive to the emotions experienced by campers who miss home.  The most important antidotes we offer to a child who is missing home are: love, caring, sympathy and things to do to keep them busy!  It is important as well to acknowledge to the camper that what he or she is experiencing is real, that it can be painful, that it comes from love, but with time will pass. Further, it is something we all have to go through in order to grow.  Ultimately, we employ a team approach – namely, keep a child that is missing home as engaged in camp life as possible and consult and work with the parents (behind the scenes) to help with the camper’s positive adjustment.  We cannot overemphasize the importance of the team approach between CSM and parents.

We also need to acknowledge the question: What if I miss my child?  Much of what we said directly above applies!  Know that your experience is real, that it can hurt, that it comes from love, but with time it will get better.  We have to acknowledge too that it is something you have to go through in order for you and your child to grow.  Although you won’t have camp activities to distract yourself, we would like you to employ the same strategy: keep busy!  So many moms in particular have gone through this at CSM. We would be happy to have you speak with one or more of them if you like. What they tell us is that it was worth it when they came to CSM and reunited with their child – and when their child would not stop talking (all the way home) about all the fun that they had at camp!