Last Tuesday, July 24, a bus pulled into Lions Park in Fair Haven with 20 young people from around the world. These young men and women had come to Minnesota about one to three weeks prior, and had been hosted in homes all over the state. They come for a total of four to six weeks. What brought them to Fair Haven is Camp Spicer, a traveling camp sponsored by the Lions. They enjoyed a pot-luck dinner and then split up to spend the night in local homes with host families. Lions Clubs International started their international youth exchange program 25 years ago as a means to promote world peace. Camp Spicer began 23 years ago in Spicer, Minn., at a Bible camp. About 10 years ago it became a traveling camp with no permanent base. The only other Lions youth exchange camp in Minnesota, Camp Trowbridge, recently combined with Camp Spicer. Instead of going to one location for a week, the visiting “ambassadors” are bussed from one location to another. Some nights they stay with families and are hosted by Lions Clubs around the state. Other nights they stay in college dormitories and make day trips from there. This particular group, in their one week of traveling camp, started in Mankato Saturday. They also stayed at Augsburg College three days. They enjoyed an evening at Chanhassen Dinner Theater, and shopping at the Mall of America. They not only watched a Saints baseball game, but also played softball. They toured Hearing and Service Dogs of Minnesota. And they visited a judge in Scott County and learned a bit about our judicial system. Then Saturday morning they returned to their Minnesota host families. Pam and Mark Schindele of Clearwater hosted four young men Tuesday night. They toured the Schindele elk ranch, watched movies, looked at books from their respective countries (Italy, Israel, Hungary and Poland), and talked into the night. But then they were back at the bus by 7:30 Wednesday morning. “It was great,” said Pam Schindele. “It wasn’t enough time, though.” The Schindeles, who now have grown sons, had hosted an exchange student from Brazil several years ago and it was a wonderful experience. “If anybody gets a chance to have a foreign exchange student, they should absolutely do it,” said Pam. “It’s an experience of a lifetime.” Linda Norby, a Camp Spicer coordinator from Vergas, says that hosting a summer exchange student is a great way to try the exchange experience before committing to six or nine months. The Lions not only host foreign youth, but they also sponsor Minnesota young people to go abroad. Norby hopes more young people from Minnesota will take advantage of this unique opportunity to see the world. This year only three did. “[These students] are ambassadors for the United States,” said Norby, who also coordinates the exchange program for Minnesotans going abroad. About the Lions’ Youth Exchange • Ages 15-22 are eligible • Select from about 100 camps in 39 countries • Applicant must be sponsored by a Lions Club, but neither applicant nor parents need to be a Lion • Some locations are English-speaking, most require knowledge of the local language. • Most Lions districts have scholarships, and participants and/or parents may pay a portion of expenses • www.lionsclubs.org “Youth Programs”
