Camp Constitution’s Third Quarter Report for 2024
16th Annual Family Camp
Camp Constitution’s 16th annual family camp ran from Sunday July 14 to Friday July 19. For the fifth year in a row, the camp took place at the Singing Hills Christian Camp in Plainfield, NH. This may have been our largest turnout in our camp’s history with attendees coming as far as Frankfurt, Germany, Cape Town, South Africa, Florida, Uganda Texas, and Wisconsin
Returning instructors included Professor Willie Soon, one of the world’s top atmospheric scientists, who attended with his family, Pastor David Whitney of the Institute on the Constitution, Rev. Steve Craft who serves at the camp chaplain, Mrs. Catherine White of the Constitution Decoded, and author and host of the Liberty Sentinel program, Alex Newman.
Our guest instructors were Mrs. Julie Wilkerson who played the abortion nurse in the movie UnPlanned: The Abby Johnson Story and author Dr. Felecia Nace. Dr Nace attended out 2020 camp and was the guest speaker at this year’s Ladies “Spring Fling” . For the tenth year, Mr. Mert Melfa served as our videographer and uploaded videos of our classes and activities. A link to our 2024 Family Camp YouTube playlist: https://studio.youtube.com/playlist/PL7jnzBzBiNYBuAEivmEE9B-L1wy4ZKTEc/videos
We start our day with an optional run and/or swim at 6:30. Wake up is 7:00 and morning devotions and flag-raising at 7:50. Afterwards, there is a reading from the Bible. As he has for the past few years, veteran camper Franklin Soon plays “Reveille” on the trumpet followed by the firing of our cannon: https://youtu.be/vlj4Kz-TV3w?si=KqfpCG8-wvJYbGOz
After a hearty breakfast, the camp conducts three 45-miniute classes.
During the first class, Head Counselor Chris Kalis conducts room inspection where both cleanliness, and a Patriotic theme will give those in the room points towards the room inspection contest where the occupants of the winning room get treated to free pizza on Thursday after campfire. The Girls of Room 11 in Mountain View were the winners. The daily inspection results are posted in the camp’s daily newspaper, “Camp Constitution Journal” distributed in the evening. The paper, edited Mark Affleck, also has articles written by campers about the daily activities and classes. A link to PDF versions of the paper: https://s3.amazonaws.com/camppictures/CampArchive/index.html
Monday afternoon, we offered an optional martial arts training class taught by Mr. George Dewhurst of Alton, NH.
Over the years, we have been blessed with talented campers and staff and this year was no exception. From Mrs. Paulie Heath, our campfire director who is a Christian recording artist to the Soons-Emily, Ben, and Franklin to Josh Viliniskis, to Mrs. Catherine White to new campers Elayna, Alise and Christie Uhl from Milwaukee to Jonathan Cohler, a world-renowned clarinetist, our ears were treated to some incredible music. These talents are highlighted at our evening campfires, where in addition to music and signing, attendees tell “Dad” jokes, skits, and recite poetry. Campfire ends with a devotion and the playing of “Taps”
Our junior campers -ages 5-12- also attend classes taught by Mrs. Edith Craft, Mrs. Kathy Mickel who also serves as our nurse, Mrs. Jessica Whitworth, and Mrs. Roberta Stewart. On Thursday, the Junior Campers have a parade through camp:
For the second year, Mr. Keith Hanson and his team at Critical Dynamics taught the optional firearms training on Tuesday afternoon. We had a number of first-time marksmen on hand.
Mr. Chris Kalis, who drives all the way from Michigan, serves as both our head counselor and recreational director. He runs the afternoon program which includes volleyball, basketball, “steal the bacon” a chess tournament, and our annual wiffleball game between “The Shurtleff All Stars” and “The Kalis Barnstormers.”
Wednesday afternoon, we had an optional field trip to the Precision Museum in nearby Windsor, Vermont where we learned about our nation’s role in the Industrial Revolution.
On Thursday afternoon, Alan “Spunky” Bellanger entertained Junior campers
The camp has both a pond and a pool which are popular with the campers:
On Thursday evening, the camp held its closing ceremony where the Super Camper and Super Staffer awards along with and our new “Willie Soon” Award for Instructional Excellence. are presented. Mrs. Jessica Whitworth was awarded the Super Staffer award, Professor Willie Soon was awarded the first “Wille Soon Award.” Ben Soon and Elisabeth Krutov were the Super Campers, and Jonathan Larson and first time camper Alise Uhl were the runner ups. Super Campers win a free tuition for next year’s camp. Junior camper program director Mrs. Edith Craft presented certificates of completion to our junior camper camp program
(Ben Soon, Jonathan Larson, Elisabeth Krutov and Alise Uhl)
Here is a link to pictures and videos of activities of our camp:
Next year’s camp will run from Sunday July 13 to Friday July 18 and returns to Singing Hills Christian Camp in Plainfield, NH.
Camp Constitution in the News
Our lawsuit “Shurtleff v Boston” continues to be mentioned in the news around the United States. Our case was cited in defense of the recently passed law in Louisiana that calls for the placing of the Ten Commandments in the state’s public school classrooms. Cities and towns across the United States cited our case when passing ordinances banning all third-party flags including Lockhaven, PA, Enfield, CT and LaRue, TX. While other towns and cities, due to our case, have allowed the flying of Christian, and Pro-Life flags including Waltham, MA, Hartford, CT and Nashua, NH.
Camp Constitution on the Air
While at our annual family camp. Alex Newman did a live show on Frank Speech where he interviewed a number of our instructors. In September, Steve Nguyen, agent for actor Greg Allan Martin reached out to us asking to interview Mr. Martin. We will be doing the interview in mid-October. We had two appearances on the Duke Pesta Show, and two appearances on the Tamara Scott Show which airs on Frank Speech, two appearances on the Pro-America Report hosted by Ed Martin of the Phyllis Schlafly Eagles, an appearance on the Chris McCarthy Show on WBSM New Bedford, an appearance on Red Pill Politics which airs on Republic Radio, and for the first time, an appearance on the George Hale–Ric Tyler Show on WVOM FM Maine. We also appeared as a guest on Chattin with Jeanine- TV Show which airs on Merrimac, NH’s cable station, and hosted by New Hampshire State Rep Jeanine Notter. We also co-hosted a show on the newly rebooted Catching Fire News, and an appearance on Alex Newman’s Sentinel Report.
Special Projects
We had a float, for the fourth year in row, at the Alton, NH Old Home Day Parade where we distributed over 300 pocket copies of the U.S. Constitution. We hosted info tables at the Crown of Maine Balloon Festival, information tables at the Mass HOPE and Homeschoolers of Maine annual conventions. We participate in a flag raising ceremony of Resurrection Sunday in front of Nashua, NH’s City Hall. We had our Spring Clean Up at our two miles of road on Alton, NH, and an information at the Education Options Expo held in Newport, NH in late August. In early August, we co-sponsored a day camp in Maine for children ages 5-12.
Thanks to two generous donors, we were able to run radio spots promoting the Sam Blumenfeld Archive, and Ladies Weekend Retreat on WRKO, the most popular AM talk radio show in New England, and WORD Radio WSEW in Rochester. The spots also ran free on New Hampshire Gospel Radio WVNH, WANH, and WJNHA link to the radio spot: https://youtube.com/shorts/CC7MaLHpQPQ?si=3wzZlG6P49CQ6NU6
YouTube, and Rumble
We received 374,000 views for this reporting period and as well as 7,185 new subscribers giving us 15,218 subscribers. Since creating our channel, we have received 1.9 million views. Our Rumble channel had 7,000 views and 1,000 likes. If you haven’t already, please subscribe to these two channels and share the videos:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCN7ME18Q1xiqcrPEn5h5FbA
https://rumble.com/account/content?type=all
Camp Constitution Report on Podomatic and Other Platforms
For this reporting period, we have received 853 plays and 2,260downloads of our shows. We continue to be in the top ten for the category of conservative-right. In addition to our weekly show, we have uploaded some classic interviews and speeches by Dan Smoot, Gary Allen, and E. Merrill Root. A link to our show: https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/shurtleffhal
Camp Constitution Press
We published The Racist Roots of Planned Parenthood and Its Legacy of Death and Art and Revolution, and we had another printing of Alpha-Phonics, and The 1928 U.S. Army Manual. Thanks to the efforts of Bill McNally and his daughter, Barbara, who edited an unpublished manuscript on the JFK assassination written by Sam Blumenfeld in 1965, we will be publishing Sam’s work titled Did the KGB Kill Kennedy? Bill and Barbara are also working on a more difficult edit of Sam’s Did the Communists Create the Neo-Nazi Movement in America
Speakers Bureau
We had 32 speaking engagements including five engagements by best-selling author Vince Ellison, and two for Willaim Brown and Phil Zodhiates of Save the Persecuted Christians. We were invited to speak to a group in Texas that wants to start a camp program like ours.
Website
75,000 views and For the first quarter, we had 73,000 views and 35,000 visits and published 130 articles on the blog.
Sam Blumenfeld Archives
550,000 Hits with over 1,600 Alpha Phonics workbooks downloaded. As mentioned above, we reprinted 200 copies of Alpha Phonics and ran 30-second promotional spots on several radio stations including WRKO, and WORD Radio in Rochester, NH:
https://youtube.com/shorts/CC7MaLHpQPQ?si=Hh2QeYh7qOP0buV7
The Blumenfeld Archives
Facebook Page
We have 3,200 likes and over 3,500 following our page. We also manage six other groups and one other page-all of them growing in members
Stopping An Article V Convention
We testified against HCR 8 a resolution introduced by the far-left group Wolf PAC in New Hampshire’s House and it was soundly defeated, and we testified in favor of HCR 9, a resolution to rescind New Hampshire’s only Article V application. It passed the House by a voice vote which surprised many pundits but was not taken up in the Senate. In Maine, we helped defeat a resolution for an Article V Convention. On the morning before the vote, we appeared as a guest on WVOM-the Voice of Maine to discuss the issue. A link to the interview: https://youtu.be/g72_f6vk1ts?si=7R8Mg2aog5ZRFBVr
Ladies Spring Fling
We held our 5th annual ladies “Spring Fling” in early April held at the Alton Bay Christian Conference Center. Guest speaker was Dr. Felecia Nace.
Third Annual Weekend Family Retreat
Camp Constitution held their 3rd annual family retreat up at Camp Sentinel in Tuftonboro, NH this past weekend and it was chock full of information, encouragement, and activities!
Friday evening, Reverend Steven Craft gave a presentation on Race Worship. He likened the race debate to the “Golden Calf of the 21st Century”, encouraging attendees to be modern day Davids up against a Goliath of racialized ideology. While some have weaponized race, we must remember that Jesus shed his blood for ALL of us, which makes us equal in the eyes of God. Kin folk, not “skin” folk!
We also had a Constitution 101 presentation by Camp Constitution Co-Founder, Hal Shurtleff! He recommended watching “A More Perfect Union” and reading “Christianity and the Constitution” by John Eidsmoe as well as The Federalist Papers. He reminded us that the amendments in the Bill of Rights PROTECT our rights – not grant them.
Saturday was a full day of activities and crafts for the kids, and speeches for the adults in the morning, starting with Michael King of Massachusetts Family Institution. He shared some concerning slides and papers put out in schools, like the ‘Gingerbread Person’ for elementary/middle schoolers, ‘Gender Unicorn’ for kids as young as 4, and the Trever Project for teens; since they have begun making things like this widely known, they have managed to make Sex Ed an opt-in program and more than 7000 children have chosen to skip those classes, making it a home education topic instead. They have in fact had many victories regarding this topic and others in schools, have several National partners, and are paving the way in church-based education alternatives in MA!
A link to Mr. King’s presentation: https://youtu.be/GsP843c_6zc?si=-j3BDfEIzdwNMA73
Michael King of the Mass Family Institute Junior Campers taught by Mrs. Jessica Whitworth
We also got to hear some information and watch some videos from the Chandler family about the Trail Life USA and American Heritage Girls programs. They operate for boys and girls, respectively, from ages 5 to 18+ and are a Christ-based alternative to Scouts. They are both Nationwide programs that can be joined here in New England, or parents can sign up to lead a new chapter if there isn’t one nearby.
After lunch there was a break with options to do recreational activities, go apple picking or shopping, or even visit the WW2 Museum in Wolfeboro. Our family opted into the WW2 Museum which had a few interactive exhibits for the kids, a vast number of artifacts, and a great hall of ages where you got an in-depth look at the years from 1939 to 1945. It ended with an up-close look at tanks and other military vehicles from the time. Though the word “democracy” was thrown around a little too often for my taste, it was definitely a worthwhile visit – make sure to check out their used book rack in the gift shop for some hidden treasures!
The film “Monumental” was being shown when we returned to camp – a great watch for the whole family! Camp Sentinel, where this retreat was held, was very accommodating with a warm fire all day, comfortable couches, and plenty of drinks and snacks!
The evening rounded off with Representative Paul Terry sharing how to Influence Elected Officials. He provided a packet of information to each attendee full of valuable information, tips, and action item checklists! One of the main points made was how blessed we are to live in NH where we have the largest number of representatives in the Nation! Each member of the House only has about 2,200 citizens they represent, which makes them incredibly accessible. Those of us who wish to see change need to take advantage of this fact – not just when we want something, but also to thank them or even just get to know them. A link to Rev. Terry’s presentation: https://youtu.be/rPXu954Q9So?si=sPY6Lc-qi7TOx8DA
Rounding off the evening, Jack McCarthy, a representative for Tactical Civics, spoke about the organization. They believe that the solution to the problems we are facing today include establishing County Grand Juries and Constitutional Militias. He also noted that learning your state constitution is just as (if not more) important as learning your US constitution.
Each morning of the retreat started with a flag raising ceremony overlooking the mountains, and every evening ended with a campfire accompanied by singing, poetry, readings, skits, and music. There were also a few tables available all weekend full of the different organizations’ information, sign-ups, books, and more.
Sunday consisted of worship led by Rev. Craft. After some singing, the children were led out for more crafts as the sermon began. This all centered somewhat around the race debate, but also dove into the division we bring on ourselves in politics and religion. Why do we focus on denominations, when we are all brothers and sisters of Christ, seeking Him in all things? We need to unify and strengthen ourselves in this fight between good and evil – because that is truly what we are facing now.
Finally, Hal spoke about his most recent book, “The Racists Roots of Planned Parenthood And Its Legacy of Death.” Did YOU know that over $500 Million in federal funds goes to Planned Parenthood? Or that Martin Luther King Junior was the first recipient of the Margaret Sanger award? Have you ever heard Sanger’s quote that seeing shrieking children in schoolyards made her feel her mission had failed? Did you know that one of Margaret Sangers collaborators was none other than Ernst Rudin, president of the International Federation of Eugenics organizations and later, Nazi director of sterilization and founder of the Nazi Society for Racial Hygiene? If you answered “no” to any of these questions, I highly suggest you purchase his book ASAP.
It was a wonderful weekend full of education, building connections, sharing God’s word, and having new experiences as a family. It’s also a wonderful opportunity to support a worthy cause and check out the awesome library available through Camp Constitution. Check out their website (campconstitution.net) for more resources, and to learn how to sign up for the next Camp Constitution event!
How You Can Help
Pray for our nation, especially for the November 5 elections, and for Camp Constitution.
Attend our 17th annual family camp.
Host a Camp Constitution speaker.
Subscribe to our YouTube and Rumble channels and follow us on Podomatic.
View and share our videos and podcasts.
Make a monthly donation or a one-time donation. Donations may be made via our PayPal account accessed from our website’s homepage https://www.campconstitution.net
If you own a business or are involved with a non-profit, consider a sponsorship for a minimum of $100. A year.
And a special thanks to all who help make Camp Constitution possible.
Blessings.
Hal Shurtleff, Director
Camp Constitution
Alton, NH
Hal Shurtleff, Director
Camp Constitution