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Click on the Videos below to here more about...
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Foster companionship and understanding and set a foundation for positive, lifelong relationships between parent and child. |
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Build a sense of self-esteem and personal worth. |
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Expand awareness of spirit, mind, and body. |
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Provide a framework to meet a mutual need of spending enjoyable, constructive, and quality time together. |
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Enhance the quality of family time. |
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Emphasize the vital role that parents play in the growth and development of their children. |
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Offer an important and unique opportunity to develop and enjoy volunteer leadership skills. |
To foster understanding and companionship between parent and child
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To be clean in body and pure in heart |
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To be friends forever with my dad/mom/son/daughter |
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To love the sacred circle of my family |
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To listen while others speak |
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To love my neighbor as myself |
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To respect the traditions and beliefs of all people |
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To seek and preserve the beauty of Our Creator’s work in forest, field, and stream |
Friends Forever
We, through friendly service to each other, to our family, to this Expedition, and to our community, seek a world pleasing to the eye of Our Creator.
Circle meetings and Expedition
adventures constitute the core of the program.
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Circle meetings and gatherings (biweekly or monthly in a family home and once a month for Circle adventures) |
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Expedition adventures (Circles coming together for Expedition adventures such as campouts, parties, or parades) |
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Family-oriented activities (ceremonies, games, crafts, songs, stories, skits, and outdoor pursuits such as camping, hiking, and swimming) |
Participants are grouped as follows:
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Guide and Explorer—parent and child pair |
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Circle—group of Guides and Explorers |
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Expedition—group of Circles within a YMCA, often organized by gender (e.g., father–daughter Expedition, mother–son Expedition, etc.) though some Expeditions might be coed |
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Federation—group of Expeditions within a YMCA Association (e.g., the father–son and father–daughter Expeditions together make up a Federation) |
The program is run by YMCA staff and program volunteers. Volunteers are recruited or elected by Expedition members to assume these roles.
The YMCA Adventure Guides program is
heavily based on rituals and traditions that bring a sense
of continuity, community, intrigue, and magic to the
program. These rituals and traditions include those listed
here as well as others, depending on the particular YMCA’s
choices.
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• Program names |
• Rites of passage |
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• Circle and Expedition property |
• Awards |
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• Program attire |
• Ceremonies |