From Thursday the 10th to Saturday the 12th of July, the "Tsarskoe Selo" Chapter of St. George Pathfinders of America in Northville, NY held its first camp for "Zaichiki" (bunny scouts, ages 3-6). Traditionally, the camp program begins for children aged 7 or 8, who enter the organization as Wolf Cubs (boys) and Squirrels (girls), before progressing to the full scouting program at age 10 or 11.
The overall theme of the program was "Bear," and the zaichiki learned about different kinds of bears, their anatomy, diet, and lifestyle. Together with their parents, they held several singing lessons (including a song about a bear who collects pinecones, which they performed for everyone at the end of the week), built dens out of sticks and Play-Doh, and made their own paintbrushes out of ferns, which they used to paint drawings of bears. The program concluded with a "bear hunt," with the bear awarding them a small achievement patch for their uniforms. Downtime was spent resting, with some zaichiki catching salamanders in the woods and crayfish in the creek, and even a short fishing lesson.
The Zaichik program was held concurrently with the regular camp schedule. Zaichiki ate alongside other campers, slept in tents, bathed in the local Lake Sacandaga, and attended the Wolf Cub-Squirrel bonfire on Friday evening, and the larger combined camp bonfire on Saturday evening after All-Night Vigil, served in St. George Chapel on the camp grounds by spiritual counselor Priest Andrew Podymow (cleric of Holy Virgin Protection Church in Nyack, NY) and Protodeacon Alexandre Sarandinaki (cleric of St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Howell, NJ).
The lead organizer, Kathy Gorbenko (forest name "Falcon") shared some background on how the program came into being: "[Chapter director] Grisha Galitzine asked me to take on the leadership of the Zaichik camp. ‘Putivl’ Chapter in Washington, DC has already been hosting such a program for over 20 years (since 2004 ‒ ed.). I know that one of the California chapters was also beginning a Zaichik program this year. We also wanted to try to do this. I immediately asked Sasha Ward if she would help me. So we got together back in March and started preparing a program. We decided that the theme ‘Bear’ would be interesting for the children, as well as activities that would help the kids work on a cognitive, creative, and cultural level, while improving their knowledge of the Russian language."
Sasha Ward (forest name "Dolphin") added, "Learning from and following examples of other chapters, we put together a program that we thought our own young children and the children of fellow former campers would enjoy. We look forward to continuing and improving the Zaichik program for years to come."
