Dynamic Duo

“The pizza inflatable goes the fastest on the slip ‘n slide!”

This comment was not made by a camper, but rather by Marilyn, the 79-year-old camp nurse and grandma at T.R.A.C. Erie, Pennsylvania, this past summer.

This spry thing is up for anything the campers do, including flying down a water slide on an inflatable.

“I almost beat you, Mitch,” Grandma Marilyn told one of the camp counselors at supper.

Her counterpart and fellow camp nurse and grandma admitted being on the shyer side. “I love doing arts and crafts with the kids and seeing them blossom in confidence.” Connie, age 75, has been volunteering since T.R.A.C. Erie began four years earlier. Together, this dynamic duo, has over 100 years of nursing experience combined.

“Connie keeps me grounded from doing dangerous things,” Marilyn said about her friend. “But as long as God keeps me healthy, I’ll keep volunteering. I love the campers, and I love my T.R.A.C. family.”

Last year Marilyn got caked in mud when several of the guys decided to paint each other with mud from Lake Erie. “And the girls,” she grinned. “They were teaching me to how to be a girl from the hood with slang words like ‘bussin.’” (That is an adjective meaning really great, for all of us who may not be educated in the finer vocabulary of teenagers.)

Connie’s only regret is that she wished every kid could experience T.R.A.C. “There’s so many hurting youth; I just want to help them all.”

When asked if they had any advice, both ladies were big proponents of volunteering at camp, “I just love seeing a kid smile and open up. You’ll get a million times more back than you give.”