What is International Children’s Festival (ICF)??? It is the Festival of the heart…the Festival of feeling and giving to others less fortunate than ourselves. We firmly believe that our campers are not too young to learn about issues which face others less fortunate – poverty, hunger, illness, homelessness. Why do we have ICF??? More than 80 years ago, during a very harsh winter, a little boy and his family and their entire Austrian village were probably spared from starvation by the arrival of food, clothing and medical supplies.
The little boy remembered that the relief boxes, decorated with a Red Cross, came from America. The boy never forgot what saved his life…..and since that time has helped hundreds of young people to consider ways of reaching out to others in need. That little boy was Louis Buttinger, Greg’s Grandpa. Had the food and clothes packages not arrived….there would be no Hillcroft.
We spend 2 days where we aim to empower our campers with the thought process that even though they are young they can do something to help others who are in need. Our Festival culminates in a camper-run carnival. All money raised at the carnival is donated to the ICF charities which the children vote on. These are all charities which help children in need. ICF truly IS the festival of the heart!!!
What is Arts Festival??? Arts festival is the Festival of our Imaginations, the Festival of make believe!! For one day only Camp Hillcroft is transformed into a story book tale…a movie…. a play where we take our campers on the adventure of a lifetime! Our physical environment is changed overnight to reflect the theme and ALL staff are in costume acting out the theme of that year! A truly wonderous experience for our campers who get taken away with the make believe and involve themselves fully in the story line!
Friendship Games is the culmination of our summer…it is Color War….Olympics…farewell to friends all rolled into one day of sports, swimming and fun! Our Friendship Games Day truly epitomizes what Hillcroft is all about. Friendship, teamwork, cooperation and having fun with friends and counselors form the basis of what we believe a summer camp should be. Our campers have fun participating in all different team events and swimming races wearing specially designed T Shirts from our very own Graphics Studio. Campers are involved in designing and helping to print these very special T-Shirts!