Crafty crafters help out campers
By Joanne Fox Journal staff writer | Posted: Tuesday, July 24, 2007
SOUTH SIOUX CITY -- Take a plastic water or soda bottle. Cut off the neck. Add stickers, ribbons and yarn and voila, you've got your own miniature wind sock.
That's just one of a number of crafts kids at the Goodwill Camp created this week, courtesy of a group appropriately named Siouxland Crafters.
Summer camp has always been a time to get away from city life, meet new friends, participate in swimming and other competitive sports.
In essence, good times can be found at Goodwill Camp's 105 acres.
Crafts have long been a staple during regular camping sessions and this year is no different. But instead of camp counselors helping with items that could be displayed on a refrigerator, a group of seasoned crafters have come forward to help out.
Betty Dutcher of Le Mars, Iowa, was approached by Sonny Kellen, Goodwill director of development, and invited to help out at the camp. She invited five others to help her out; Blanche Derochie, Irene Goodwin, Mary Hair, Delores Hair, and Marian McArthur.
"I've been doing crafts since '81 and started out because I wanted something to do," Dutcher said, as she circled the table like a mother hen guiding her chicks. "I've taught crafts at Western Iowa Tech like macrame and silk flowers and glass etching."
"Handle the bottle just so," Dutcher told camper Jacob Merrigan of Sioux City. "The material goes around just so and you need to lay it down and then grab the color tape and you got your own creation."
Jacob, 10, confessed to never doing anything like a windsock before.
"But," he said quietly and with a bit of hesitation, "I'd rather be drawing."
Another artist was Shyanne Munter of Sioux City who pointed out her "portfolio," loaded with pencil and colored pencil renderings.
"I sew a lot too and I'd like to be a fashion designer," said the 11-year-old who sported her windsock around her neck. "I'll probably give this to my mom or maybe put it outside for my five baby kittens."
Maybe closer to a grandmother hen was Irene Goodwin of Sioux City with her one-on-one attention.
"You need to put some knots here," she demonstrated to camper Lucas Spielmann of Sioux Falls, S.D. "Do you know how to put in the knots?"
"Yeah," the 11-year-old replied.
"Good. Now let me see you knot it," she said with affirmation in her voice, while she made some minor adjustments. "Then, put the streamers around the bottom..."
"I can do it," Lucas insisted taking over, but the smile on his face remained.
Mary Hair and her younger sister Delores might have been working at their Correctionville, Iowa, farm today following the much needed rain on Wednesday. Instead they were helping out with the crafts in one of the log cabins on the Goodwill Camp property, located south and west of South Sioux just off of U.S. Highway 20.
"We're technically not part of the Siouxland Crafters," Mary Hair clarified. "We came because of a cousin."
And on cue, cousin Dutcher appeared, put her arms around them and insisted, "They were rooked into it!"
"Mary's had more experience in this type of thing than I have," Delores Hair admitted. "She taught first grade in South Sioux for years."
"I consider myself more of a helper," she confided.
This year celebrates the 80th anniversary of the Bible camp which has provided summer fun for tens of thousands of young Siouxlanders, said Georjean Bailey, Goodwill special projects coordinator.
The overnight camping program runs June 25 through July 27, accommodating about 100 campers, ages 8 to 12, each week, Monday through Friday.
Goodwin and several others sported their tie-dyed shirts created earlier in the week. She shared one of the secrets of making successful crafts with the campers.
"We get together first and make them before we make them with the kids," she said. "Next week, we're doing bookworms and butterflies."
That's just one of a number of crafts kids at the Goodwill Camp created this week, courtesy of a group appropriately named Siouxland Crafters.
Summer camp has always been a time to get away from city life, meet new friends, participate in swimming and other competitive sports.
In essence, good times can be found at Goodwill Camp's 105 acres.
Crafts have long been a staple during regular camping sessions and this year is no different. But instead of camp counselors helping with items that could be displayed on a refrigerator, a group of seasoned crafters have come forward to help out.
Betty Dutcher of Le Mars, Iowa, was approached by Sonny Kellen, Goodwill director of development, and invited to help out at the camp. She invited five others to help her out; Blanche Derochie, Irene Goodwin, Mary Hair, Delores Hair, and Marian McArthur.
"I've been doing crafts since '81 and started out because I wanted something to do," Dutcher said, as she circled the table like a mother hen guiding her chicks. "I've taught crafts at Western Iowa Tech like macrame and silk flowers and glass etching."
"Handle the bottle just so," Dutcher told camper Jacob Merrigan of Sioux City. "The material goes around just so and you need to lay it down and then grab the color tape and you got your own creation."
Jacob, 10, confessed to never doing anything like a windsock before.
"But," he said quietly and with a bit of hesitation, "I'd rather be drawing."
Another artist was Shyanne Munter of Sioux City who pointed out her "portfolio," loaded with pencil and colored pencil renderings.
"I sew a lot too and I'd like to be a fashion designer," said the 11-year-old who sported her windsock around her neck. "I'll probably give this to my mom or maybe put it outside for my five baby kittens."
Maybe closer to a grandmother hen was Irene Goodwin of Sioux City with her one-on-one attention.
"You need to put some knots here," she demonstrated to camper Lucas Spielmann of Sioux Falls, S.D. "Do you know how to put in the knots?"
"Yeah," the 11-year-old replied.
"Good. Now let me see you knot it," she said with affirmation in her voice, while she made some minor adjustments. "Then, put the streamers around the bottom..."
"I can do it," Lucas insisted taking over, but the smile on his face remained.
Mary Hair and her younger sister Delores might have been working at their Correctionville, Iowa, farm today following the much needed rain on Wednesday. Instead they were helping out with the crafts in one of the log cabins on the Goodwill Camp property, located south and west of South Sioux just off of U.S. Highway 20.
"We're technically not part of the Siouxland Crafters," Mary Hair clarified. "We came because of a cousin."
And on cue, cousin Dutcher appeared, put her arms around them and insisted, "They were rooked into it!"
"Mary's had more experience in this type of thing than I have," Delores Hair admitted. "She taught first grade in South Sioux for years."
"I consider myself more of a helper," she confided.
This year celebrates the 80th anniversary of the Bible camp which has provided summer fun for tens of thousands of young Siouxlanders, said Georjean Bailey, Goodwill special projects coordinator.
The overnight camping program runs June 25 through July 27, accommodating about 100 campers, ages 8 to 12, each week, Monday through Friday.
Goodwin and several others sported their tie-dyed shirts created earlier in the week. She shared one of the secrets of making successful crafts with the campers.
"We get together first and make them before we make them with the kids," she said. "Next week, we're doing bookworms and butterflies."
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