WEBVTT - Welcome to Camp Shane 0:00:00.760 --> 0:00:56.000 Listeners please note you’ll hear the word “fat” used a lot throughout this series. Many of our speakers use the word as a neutral descriptor, some of them use it with pride. In this episode, we also mention specific weight and weight loss numbers. This language could be sensitive for some listeners, so please take care. Camp Shane (S-H-A-N-E) is a summer camp much like any other. A tall fence surrounds a sprawling, wooded property, and inside sit all the makings of a great sleepaway camp: A ropes course, a few soccer fields, a swimming pool, and rows and rows of bunks. When you walk the grounds, you’re sure to see kids parading around in tie-dye, counselors thickly coated in sunblock, and you might even hear the unmistakable melody of Reveille. 0:00:58.560 --> 0:01:03.279 So am I saying right? Reverie, Revelie? I don't know. 0:01:03.440 --> 0:01:06.840 We'd wake up to like patriotic music, like you're a 0:01:06.880 --> 0:01:07.640 military camp? 0:01:07.959 --> 0:01:10.720 Is it the one that's like. That one? 0:01:10.800 --> 0:01:13.800 Maybe? Yeah. 0:01:14.080 --> 0:01:16.920 After wake up and a bit of breakfast, campers were 0:01:16.920 --> 0:01:20.119 ready to start the day, making memories that would last 0:01:20.160 --> 0:01:26.959 a lifetime and experiencing many many firsts. First friendships, first kisses, 0:01:27.160 --> 0:01:28.000 first wins. 0:01:28.880 --> 0:01:31.920 So I had my very first boyfriend, I had my 0:01:32.080 --> 0:01:35.000 very first kiss during a movie night, and it was 0:01:35.080 --> 0:01:38.360 just just really really good for my self esteem. For me, 0:01:38.520 --> 0:01:41.120 it was the best summers of my life. 0:01:41.200 --> 0:01:44.600 You will make friends at camp that you're closer with 0:01:44.640 --> 0:01:47.560 than your best friends in the outside world. 0:01:48.200 --> 0:01:53.080 But Camp Shane isn't exactly like your average summer camp. Here, 0:01:53.360 --> 0:01:57.320 kids don't eat s'mores at bonfires, there are no popsicles 0:01:57.360 --> 0:02:01.240 on hot July afternoons, and revel signals more than just 0:02:01.280 --> 0:02:04.160 the start of the day. It signals the approach of 0:02:04.200 --> 0:02:09.119 a morning workout. At Camp Shane, kids aren't just here 0:02:09.160 --> 0:02:12.720 to make memories and get outdoors. They're here to get thin. 0:02:14.160 --> 0:02:16.480 Mikey agreed to go to Camp Shane, which is a 0:02:16.480 --> 0:02:18.120 weight loss camp for young kids. 0:02:18.200 --> 0:02:20.320 David Edinburgh has been on the front lines of fighting 0:02:20.360 --> 0:02:22.920 childhood obesit for more than forty years as the founder 0:02:22.960 --> 0:02:24.600 and co owner of Camp Shane. 0:02:24.800 --> 0:02:26.720 The goal here is to lose up to thirty five 0:02:26.800 --> 0:02:28.200 pounds in just weeks. 0:02:28.639 --> 0:02:32.400 Camp Shane operated for over fifty years and in that 0:02:32.560 --> 0:02:37.079 time was applauded by Tyra Banks, doctor Oz, doctor Phil 0:02:37.400 --> 0:02:41.760 and even Oprah Winfrey. It was featured on MTV, ABC, 0:02:42.400 --> 0:02:47.240 the BBC, and in the New York Times. The first 0:02:47.320 --> 0:02:50.040 time I heard about Camp Shane, I was a junior 0:02:50.080 --> 0:02:53.720 in college. My sister had been looking for summer jobs 0:02:53.800 --> 0:02:57.240 and during a frenzied late night research session, pulled up 0:02:57.280 --> 0:03:04.320 a wild looking job post New York counselors wanted. I 0:03:04.360 --> 0:03:07.360 didn't even know fat Camp was a real thing, but 0:03:07.680 --> 0:03:10.960 the posting promised an unforgettable summer with top of the 0:03:11.000 --> 0:03:14.720 line activities, all centered around kids who were misfits in 0:03:14.760 --> 0:03:20.760 the outside world. Were we intrigued? Absolutely? Were we qualified. 0:03:23.400 --> 0:03:25.840 We hardly knew a thing about weight loss or nutrition, 0:03:26.240 --> 0:03:30.440 and we didn't really have any experience with kids. But 0:03:30.560 --> 0:03:33.640 four months later we were in Ferndale, New York, ready 0:03:33.680 --> 0:03:39.080 for Campshane counselor orientation. When I first got to camp, 0:03:39.240 --> 0:03:41.560 I didn't know what to expect on the other side 0:03:41.600 --> 0:03:45.600 of the tall wooden fence that surrounded the grounds. But 0:03:46.040 --> 0:03:49.120 pretty quickly I realized what that fence concealed. 0:03:49.680 --> 0:03:52.920 It checks all the boxes, and it's so easy. You 0:03:52.960 --> 0:03:56.480 send the child, you send your money, they send the 0:03:56.560 --> 0:03:58.280 child back the way it is gone. 0:03:58.960 --> 0:04:02.440 It's that it's the most fun you'll ever hate. That 0:04:02.520 --> 0:04:04.440 sums up camp in one sentence. It is the most 0:04:04.440 --> 0:04:05.440 fun you'll ever hate. 0:04:05.600 --> 0:04:11.720 I don't know that I fully understood body shame until 0:04:11.840 --> 0:04:16.080 I went to a fat camp, and it's why it 0:04:16.160 --> 0:04:18.400 was called camp Shame. 0:04:23.160 --> 0:04:28.960 This is Camp Shame. I'm Kelsey Snelling. This is a 0:04:29.000 --> 0:04:32.800 story about fat camp, diet culture, and the heavy price 0:04:32.880 --> 0:04:37.159 of shame. During the production of this series, I spoke 0:04:37.200 --> 0:04:43.240 to nearly one hundred people, former campers, counselors, staff and parents. 0:04:44.839 --> 0:04:48.200 Today we'll hear stories from a handful of them. They 0:04:48.279 --> 0:04:51.880 represent campers from the full fifty plus years that Camp 0:04:51.880 --> 0:04:54.800 Shane was an operation. We'll get to know a lot 0:04:54.800 --> 0:04:58.240 of them throughout this season, but for this episode, we're 0:04:58.279 --> 0:05:00.640 going to get to know Camp Shane itself. 0:05:01.760 --> 0:05:16.320 Hi, I'm David Ettenberg. I'm the director and founder of Camp Shane. And I'm Ziporah Janowski David's wife and a co-director. Camp Shane was founded in 1968 and we are the original longest running weight loss camp anywhere. 0:05:16.920 --> 0:05:20.680 For decades, Camp Shane was marketed as the premier weight 0:05:20.720 --> 0:05:24.200 loss camp for kids and teens. It was the perfect 0:05:24.240 --> 0:05:28.960 place to meet new friends and get outside camp Shane 0:05:29.080 --> 0:05:32.640 had it all, ziplines, arts and crafts, and a fan 0:05:32.800 --> 0:05:37.719 favorite go carts. In addition to fun activities, camp provided 0:05:37.760 --> 0:05:42.440 cooking classes and nutrition education from celebrity chefs, as well 0:05:42.480 --> 0:05:46.240 as group therapy to uncover the root causes of Camper's 0:05:46.360 --> 0:05:51.400 weight gain. Despite the camp being a huge success, it 0:05:51.600 --> 0:05:56.360 actually got its start as a humble family business. Camp Shane, 0:05:56.800 --> 0:06:00.960 the brainchild of a woman named Selma Ettenburg, was meant 0:06:01.040 --> 0:06:04.080 to be a safe haven for kids, a place to 0:06:04.160 --> 0:06:09.080 shed extra pounds without judgment. Selma took out ads and 0:06:09.160 --> 0:06:15.120 newspapers across the country and sent out brochures to prospective families. She, 0:06:15.560 --> 0:06:18.960 along with her husband and children, even made house calls 0:06:19.080 --> 0:06:24.520 to interested families, armed with VHS tapes, more brochures, and 0:06:24.600 --> 0:06:29.000 a pitch for a summer of fun and fitness. David Attenburg, 0:06:29.400 --> 0:06:32.200 whose voice was in that ad you just heard, was 0:06:32.279 --> 0:06:35.479 part of that family, and in the nineteen eighties he 0:06:35.640 --> 0:06:36.760 was the camp director. 0:06:37.760 --> 0:06:40.880 David actually came to my house, gave us the whole 0:06:40.920 --> 0:06:45.480 presentation about how the camp was, and you know, all 0:06:45.520 --> 0:06:48.280 the great things, showed me the video everything like that, 0:06:49.480 --> 0:06:51.839 and my parents all. I go, well, why not. 0:06:52.360 --> 0:06:54.840 That’s Seth Kwitko. 0:06:54.800 --> 0:07:03.040 A camper eighty one to eighty five, I've I remember correctly, 0:07:03.520 --> 0:07:07.360 and then I came back as a counselor twice. 0:07:08.040 --> 0:07:10.440 He was about ten years old when he first went 0:07:10.480 --> 0:07:13.640 to the camp, and after the house call, he was 0:07:13.680 --> 0:07:15.360 pretty pumped about going. 0:07:15.640 --> 0:07:18.200 Level playing field, so we have nothing to worry about. 0:07:18.280 --> 0:07:20.920 Everything is going to be cool. They're going to you know, 0:07:20.920 --> 0:07:23.160 they're going to feed us, well, we're going to lose weight, 0:07:23.200 --> 0:07:25.240 We're going to be active. But I felt like it 0:07:25.280 --> 0:07:27.400 was easier to be active or keep up with a 0:07:27.400 --> 0:07:31.520 bunch of kids that were equally overweight. So how bad 0:07:31.560 --> 0:07:32.000 could this be? 0:07:34.480 --> 0:07:37.600 That level playing field that Seth talks about was so 0:07:37.720 --> 0:07:40.720 important to the campers. They were in need of a 0:07:40.720 --> 0:07:43.680 place where they could feel at ease, a place where 0:07:43.680 --> 0:07:47.480 they weren't picked last, a place where they were able 0:07:47.520 --> 0:07:50.920 to be more than just the fat kid, because in 0:07:50.960 --> 0:07:55.200 the real world, being a fat kid is really hard. 0:07:57.000 --> 0:07:57.880 Here's Seth again. 0:07:58.920 --> 0:08:04.880 Once I was in skating rink with this girl that 0:08:04.960 --> 0:08:07.920 I kind of liked, and I was kind of showing 0:08:07.960 --> 0:08:09.960 off for her. I was probably about ten. 0:08:11.120 --> 0:08:13.440 Seth was trying to be cool and made a bit 0:08:13.480 --> 0:08:16.120 of a scene by messing with a younger kid at 0:08:16.120 --> 0:08:16.520 the rink. 0:08:17.480 --> 0:08:20.440 This kid's mother was standing there and the first words 0:08:20.440 --> 0:08:27.640 out of her mouth was A fatso And that sort 0:08:27.640 --> 0:08:32.280 of took me by surprise, because I would never, never, 0:08:32.360 --> 0:08:34.240 in my life would I say anything to a kid 0:08:34.280 --> 0:08:34.480 like that. 0:08:39.440 --> 0:08:42.480 I could never imagine calling someone fat as a way 0:08:42.520 --> 0:08:46.839 to hurt them, let alone a child. Bodies come in 0:08:46.920 --> 0:08:49.840 all shapes and sizes, and there are many reasons why 0:08:49.840 --> 0:08:56.080 a person might be heavy. There's stress, genetics, hormones, medications, 0:08:56.200 --> 0:09:03.640 trauma responses, metabolic conditions. That's a long list. All that aside, 0:09:03.800 --> 0:09:08.440 body diversity is natural, which makes it endlessly disappointing that 0:09:08.480 --> 0:09:12.040 we live in a world where fatness is so demonized. 0:09:13.320 --> 0:09:15.840 When you were a bigger kid in a fat phobic society, 0:09:16.440 --> 0:09:19.280 you learn pretty quickly that the world is not built 0:09:19.280 --> 0:09:23.560 for you. You're judged every time you eat, you can't 0:09:23.559 --> 0:09:27.320 fit into desks at school, you're denied access to rides 0:09:27.360 --> 0:09:30.880 at amusement parks, and worst of all, you never really 0:09:30.920 --> 0:09:34.400 feel free in your body. You're always forced to cover 0:09:34.559 --> 0:09:41.360 up and lay low just to avoid harassment. For Carl Evans, 0:09:41.559 --> 0:09:45.080 a camper from the two thousands, the judgment he felt around. 0:09:45.120 --> 0:09:49.319 His weight soured one of his most beloved activities. As 0:09:49.360 --> 0:09:53.079 a young kid, Carl loved swimming. In his hometown outside 0:09:53.120 --> 0:09:54.240 of Chicago. 0:09:55.080 --> 0:10:10.280 There was a swimming club and then there was also like a public pond. You could get a $5 summer pass to swim in. When I was really, really young, you know, kindergarten through like first or second grade, uh, I was like a fish I would spend all day in the summers in these places. 0:10:10.960 --> 0:10:14.160 One summer, Carl went to a birthday pool party with 0:10:14.240 --> 0:10:14.720 his brother. 0:10:15.800 --> 0:10:18.560 My brother, he'd make fun of my weight more than 0:10:18.600 --> 0:10:20.000 maybe anyone else in the neighborhood. 0:10:20.800 --> 0:10:24.760 And at this party in particular, Carl remembers. 0:10:25.000 --> 0:10:40.520 He just really like laid in and decided to do like a whole standup bit on,you know, even though I'm in third grade, he called 'em man boobs. That was like a real tipping point to, you know, strategic swimming for like the rest of my life. Until Camp Shane 0:10:41.640 --> 0:10:46.160 That moment shifted how Carl viewed himself. He started swimming 0:10:46.200 --> 0:10:51.040 with his shirt on. As he got older, he sometimes 0:10:51.120 --> 0:10:54.680 used his size to his advantage, like playing high school football, 0:10:55.240 --> 0:10:59.160 but he still wasn't comfortable in his body and Eventually, 0:10:59.400 --> 0:11:03.240 his weight began to impact his health. In his teen years, 0:11:03.400 --> 0:11:07.360 Carl suffered a cardiac emergency that scared him and his family. 0:11:08.320 --> 0:11:11.880 That's when things got serious. After doing some research on 0:11:11.880 --> 0:11:15.520 weight loss camps, his sister found Camp Shane and Carl 0:11:15.640 --> 0:11:23.520 enrolled the next summer. The judgment kid's face, especially during 0:11:23.600 --> 0:11:27.600 early development, can stick with them for years, even a lifetime. 0:11:29.120 --> 0:11:32.920 Where As I remember going to kindergarten orientation and they 0:11:32.920 --> 0:11:34.920 were giving up cookies and I was so excited. My 0:11:34.960 --> 0:11:36.920 Mom's like she can't eat them, and I just remember 0:11:36.960 --> 0:11:40.120 feeling shame and embarrassment, like, uh oh, what if other 0:11:40.160 --> 0:11:41.560 people heard? This? 0:11:41.720 --> 0:11:42.720 This is Arielle Berger. 0:11:43.640 --> 0:11:47.640 I went to Camp Shane in nineteen ninety three, ninety four, 0:11:47.960 --> 0:11:53.640 ninety six, ninety eight. I was twelve, thirteen, fifteen, and seventeen. 0:11:53.720 --> 0:11:54.360 Good memory. 0:11:54.480 --> 0:11:57.160 I wrote it down. I took notes. I'm an attorney, 0:11:57.200 --> 0:11:58.040 so I take notes. 0:11:59.120 --> 0:12:03.960 Ariel still Carrie's painful memories from her early childhood, like 0:12:04.000 --> 0:12:05.200 her first year at school. 0:12:05.760 --> 0:12:08.440 I remember even like birthday partisan school, like I would 0:12:08.440 --> 0:12:09.800 always be like, oh, the teacher would be like, oh, 0:12:09.880 --> 0:12:13.800 you can't participate, Like that's so embarrassing. So there's like 0:12:13.880 --> 0:12:17.640 this feeling of shame that I even associate like to 0:12:17.760 --> 0:12:18.680 young childhood. 0:12:20.440 --> 0:12:25.280 Ariel discovered Camp Shane after seeing their advertisements. Like many 0:12:25.400 --> 0:12:28.600 kids at Camp, Aril came from a Jewish family and 0:12:28.720 --> 0:12:31.280 she was sent to camp ahead of her About Mitzvah, 0:12:31.559 --> 0:12:34.199 the ceremony that marks the time when a Jewish girl 0:12:34.320 --> 0:12:38.200 becomes an adult, many families felt pressure to present their 0:12:38.320 --> 0:12:40.760 kids to the community in the best light, and in 0:12:40.800 --> 0:12:45.000 the case of many Shaners, this meant being slim. To 0:12:45.080 --> 0:12:49.240 achieve this, Ariel's mother took drastic steps. This is even 0:12:49.360 --> 0:12:51.400 before discovering Camp Shane. 0:12:52.400 --> 0:12:54.760 She put a lock on our pantry at one point, 0:12:55.120 --> 0:12:58.320 and so it's like, what does that say to someone? Right? Like, 0:12:58.360 --> 0:13:01.560 what do you lock up? I lock up jewelry or money? 0:13:02.040 --> 0:13:04.400 Why would you lock up food? Like? That made it 0:13:04.440 --> 0:13:07.800 even more powerful. I think when. 0:13:07.760 --> 0:13:11.360 Locking food away didn't help Aril lose weight, her mother 0:13:11.440 --> 0:13:14.120 introduced her to some of the late eighties and early 0:13:14.200 --> 0:13:17.160 nineties most popular diets and diet. 0:13:16.840 --> 0:13:20.840 Foods, snack wells, chocolate sandwich cookies so good can we 0:13:20.880 --> 0:13:21.640 ever make enough? 0:13:22.559 --> 0:13:26.240 The snackwell cookies that claimed to be low fat, accomplished 0:13:26.240 --> 0:13:29.920 this by adding additional sugar, which is true of almost 0:13:29.960 --> 0:13:31.800 all low fat diet foods. 0:13:31.840 --> 0:13:34.880 Introducing new lays Wow Potato chips. They taste just as 0:13:34.880 --> 0:13:37.360 good as regular Lays, and because they're made with a lane, 0:13:37.400 --> 0:13:40.199 they're half the calories and one hundred percent fat free. 0:13:40.559 --> 0:13:44.840 In the late nineties, Freedom Lay introduced Wow Chips, fat 0:13:44.920 --> 0:13:48.640 free versions of some of their best known chips like Lays, 0:13:48.800 --> 0:13:50.520 Pringles and Doritos. 0:13:50.559 --> 0:13:54.000 Something in it was essentially a laxative. You would eat 0:13:54.040 --> 0:13:56.360 it and you would instantly get a stomach ache and 0:13:56.360 --> 0:13:58.360 go to the bathroom. So it's like, hey, it's a 0:13:58.400 --> 0:14:01.040 win win. I just ate a whole bag of Doletos 0:14:01.200 --> 0:14:05.079 and I went to the bathroom. Five days were the 0:14:05.120 --> 0:14:07.640 bathroom for one day. It was like the crazy thing. 0:14:08.160 --> 0:14:11.200 Those Wow chips were required to carry a warning and 0:14:11.320 --> 0:14:15.160 were eventually taken off the market altogether. And then there 0:14:15.160 --> 0:14:17.760 was weight Watchers, which got it started in the early 0:14:17.840 --> 0:14:20.440 nineteen sixties as a weekly support group. 0:14:20.800 --> 0:14:24.280 Weight Watchers new nineteen eighty eight Quick Success program is 0:14:24.280 --> 0:14:26.040 helping people lighten up. 0:14:26.680 --> 0:14:30.960 In fact, I started at weight Watchers at seven, so 0:14:31.000 --> 0:14:34.400 I knew at seven years old, which is insane. At seven, 0:14:34.440 --> 0:14:38.240 I knew how many you know? Calories? Ornogram of protein, 0:14:38.480 --> 0:14:41.080 fat carbohydrate. It was like this. 0:14:41.040 --> 0:14:47.360 Obsession the fat diets didn't help Ril or anyone really 0:14:47.760 --> 0:14:51.680 get thinner. In fact, the focus on weight only made 0:14:51.720 --> 0:14:56.000 her feel worse. All this pressure to be thin puts 0:14:56.080 --> 0:14:59.840 kids at a high risk for depression, anxiety, and unhealthy 0:15:00.000 --> 0:15:03.960 relationships with food and their bodies. Here's Seth again. 0:15:04.480 --> 0:15:08.080 No one really thought about the long term effects. And 0:15:08.160 --> 0:15:12.600 rather than positive reinforcement fostering that you know, eat well 0:15:12.640 --> 0:15:15.520 and you'll live a long time, it's don't eat you know. 0:15:15.560 --> 0:15:19.000 It is the negative reinforcement rather than the positive reinforcement. 0:15:19.040 --> 0:15:20.480 I can't blame my parents for that. 0:15:21.640 --> 0:15:25.240 So when all of those attempts failed, Camp Shane felt 0:15:25.280 --> 0:15:26.680 like a miracle solution. 0:15:31.320 --> 0:15:34.680 Located in the heart of the beautiful Catskills Mountain's, Camp 0:15:34.720 --> 0:15:38.640 Shane is the oldest weight loss camp in the country. Come 0:15:38.680 --> 0:15:42.400 spend some time with us, make new friends, get into shape, 0:15:42.440 --> 0:15:46.080 and experience a summer that will change your life. 0:15:47.400 --> 0:16:00.240 But first you had to get to Shane. To get 0:16:00.280 --> 0:16:03.960 to Camp Shane, campers had to first traverse the roads 0:16:03.960 --> 0:16:07.680 of upstate New York. Some kids, like Seth, had their 0:16:07.720 --> 0:16:11.240 parents drop them off, but many who flew into New 0:16:11.320 --> 0:16:14.080 York city from around the country had to take a 0:16:14.160 --> 0:16:19.440 cramped and crowded bus. After two hours of state roads 0:16:19.480 --> 0:16:24.160 and thousands of trees, a glimmer of civilization would appear 0:16:24.240 --> 0:16:29.680 through the foliage, a strip of fast food restaurants. Here's 0:16:29.720 --> 0:16:33.960 Nelson Jancaterino, a former camper and counselor from Alabama. 0:16:35.000 --> 0:16:37.520 And I remember pulling off on that exit and seeing 0:16:37.560 --> 0:16:41.640 like McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, and Taco Bell, I think, 0:16:41.680 --> 0:16:43.800 and all the kids were like, oh, oh my god, 0:16:44.040 --> 0:16:46.560 I want Taco Bell, I want Burger King, I want 0:16:46.560 --> 0:16:48.720 blah blah blah, like screaming, and like, I think the 0:16:48.720 --> 0:16:51.080 bus driver would like kind of like pretended like he 0:16:51.160 --> 0:16:52.440 was going to turn left. 0:16:53.400 --> 0:16:56.640 And that was the last time most kids saw McDonald's, 0:16:56.920 --> 0:17:00.000 but not the last time they thought about it, because 0:17:00.400 --> 0:17:04.879 just beyond this oasis of tasty, high calorie goodness was 0:17:04.960 --> 0:17:11.399 Camp Shane. Two worn totem poles welcomed to rivals to 0:17:11.440 --> 0:17:15.800 the property. On the inside, forty two acres of lush, 0:17:15.960 --> 0:17:21.040 green forest and hilly terrain were freckled by cabins, sports fields, 0:17:21.080 --> 0:17:25.200 and a few large buildings for gatherings. At the base 0:17:25.240 --> 0:17:30.320 of a notoriously steep hill sat the cafeteria. The whole 0:17:30.359 --> 0:17:34.000 design was a bit of evil genius. Walking around campus 0:17:34.080 --> 0:17:37.320 was a cardio session itself, but struggling up and down 0:17:37.359 --> 0:17:42.000 the hill was an added workout. Kids tested various strategies 0:17:42.040 --> 0:17:46.399 like zigzagging, walking backward, and even rolling down just to 0:17:46.440 --> 0:17:49.600 get to breakfast. Ask any Shaner and they'll tell you 0:17:49.680 --> 0:17:54.320 right away. The hill was absolutely iconic in its heyday. 0:17:54.720 --> 0:17:58.480 The camp's reputation was so respected and well known that 0:17:58.560 --> 0:18:02.920 a few celebrities even sent their kids to camp. Tommy Mottola, 0:18:03.359 --> 0:18:07.000 Stephen Tyler, and Michael Bolton were just some of the 0:18:07.040 --> 0:18:12.160 famous parents who trusted Shane with their children. Here's Nelson again. 0:18:13.040 --> 0:18:15.639 The really rich parents that would come in like limousines, 0:18:15.640 --> 0:18:17.960 and you had like a I think one summer Mike 0:18:18.000 --> 0:18:20.280 Tyson's daughter was there and he showed up in a 0:18:20.280 --> 0:18:22.640 helicopter and like landed on the field. 0:18:23.119 --> 0:18:26.440 A helicopter landing is pretty cool, but so was having 0:18:26.480 --> 0:18:27.840 a child star as a neighbor. 0:18:29.119 --> 0:18:37.720 Shaun Weiss was there and this Shaun Weiss from Mighty Ducks. He was a legend at camp, like the coolest 0:18:37.800 --> 0:18:40.920 kid at camp. You wanted to know him, talk to him. 0:18:41.440 --> 0:18:44.400 He walked around like he owned the camp. And then 0:18:44.440 --> 0:18:48.000 one year they even played Mighty Ducks that movie night. 0:18:48.200 --> 0:18:51.399 It was like having Bradley Cooper walk around. It was crazy. 0:18:52.240 --> 0:18:57.879 Despite celab popularity, Camp Shane was actually quite rustic. The 0:18:57.920 --> 0:19:01.240 buildings were humble and bare bone, and the grass was 0:19:01.280 --> 0:19:04.840 often unmowed. Kids were out in the woods in cabins 0:19:04.880 --> 0:19:08.960 with no air conditioning or TV, and it didn't matter. 0:19:10.000 --> 0:19:14.040 Camp was the perfect bubble, a community of chubby children 0:19:14.080 --> 0:19:21.159 who were finally free to be themselves. Remember Carl, the 0:19:21.160 --> 0:19:23.520 boy who was bullied by his brother at a pool party. 0:19:24.160 --> 0:19:27.919 Years later, he was still uncomfortable swimming around others, but 0:19:27.960 --> 0:19:31.800 at Camp Shane he had a revelation. After spending time 0:19:31.800 --> 0:19:34.480 in the hot sun, many Shaners looked forward to a 0:19:34.520 --> 0:19:38.120 dip in the cool water. Carl was worried about swimming, 0:19:38.880 --> 0:19:42.440 but this wasn't the outside world. Here's how Carl remembers 0:19:42.440 --> 0:19:42.960 that moment. 0:19:43.640 --> 0:19:46.400 We had pool on schedule and I come down there 0:19:46.480 --> 0:19:49.600 and some of the guys are walking down to the 0:19:49.640 --> 0:19:53.000 pool without shirts on. They just got their trunks and towel. 0:19:53.080 --> 0:19:55.679 That was pretty radical in and of itself, But when 0:19:55.720 --> 0:19:58.040 I got to the pool, it was another one of 0:19:58.080 --> 0:20:01.560 the veteran guys. He totally saw it. He's like, take 0:20:01.600 --> 0:20:04.240 your shirt off, and I was like, I will, and 0:20:04.240 --> 0:20:06.240 he's like, we're all here for the same reason, baby, 0:20:06.400 --> 0:20:09.280 and he and I took my shirt off, and the 0:20:09.400 --> 0:20:12.800 sense of liberation of like I mean, I really mean it, 0:20:12.920 --> 0:20:16.199 like it was like lightning and thunder crackling. Because I 0:20:16.240 --> 0:20:19.359 didn't jump in the pool took it off. I just 0:20:19.359 --> 0:20:23.120 stood there and looked around and like you could feel 0:20:23.160 --> 0:20:28.640 the breeze. It was a sunny day, and minus will 0:20:28.680 --> 0:20:33.359 have been like a Christening emancipation, you know, doves flying 0:20:33.400 --> 0:20:37.600 off kind of a thing, because that was the first 0:20:37.640 --> 0:20:41.440 like gigantic boulder. I took that shirt off and didn't 0:20:41.480 --> 0:20:44.639 jump in the pool and just sat there in myself. 0:20:46.600 --> 0:20:51.320 That feeling is why Carl eventually became a counselor. Kids 0:20:51.320 --> 0:20:54.040 at Camp Shane could find a sense of security and 0:20:54.080 --> 0:20:55.600 even pride in themselves. 0:20:56.080 --> 0:21:00.280 I would be walking on the campgrounds and the girls 0:21:00.840 --> 0:21:02.760 it was like G nine through twelve that I'd be 0:21:02.800 --> 0:21:06.199 walking by and all of a sudden I'd hear Hi 0:21:06.560 --> 0:21:10.840 Seth from thirty Girls, And of course that made me 0:21:10.880 --> 0:21:15.040 feel good, but it was certainly an ego booze. 0:21:15.119 --> 0:21:17.399 Part of it was like really good for your self esteem. 0:21:17.440 --> 0:21:19.399 Like for me, like I said, everyone's like, oh, she 0:21:19.440 --> 0:21:21.840 has such a pretty face, but now I was just oh, 0:21:21.880 --> 0:21:22.679 she's just pretty. 0:21:23.440 --> 0:21:27.240 There were so many people there who accepted and encouraged campers. 0:21:27.720 --> 0:21:29.040 Here's Nelson again. 0:21:29.080 --> 0:21:41.919 I was good at soccer, it was really good. But I would get picked last because I was heavy. But then at camp, like, I'm the Pele, I'm like the star soccer player. Mm-Hmm. . Um, so much so that like, and when I was older, like the counselors wanted me to play on, like, I played on their counselor team. 0:21:41.480 --> 0:22:01.560 Despite wanting to lose their “fat”, the F word (f-a-t) was used with pride at Camp Shane. The counselors and staff made light of fatness, which was a refreshing change of pace from the shame so many campers had carried in the past. Here’s Seth again! 0:22:02.200 --> 0:22:05.280 the way trainer counselor. And he's one counselor who will 0:22:05.320 --> 0:22:08.679 always stand out to me because for one of the 0:22:08.720 --> 0:22:11.879 talent shows, he actually had a bunch of We had 0:22:11.880 --> 0:22:18.200 all the campers from our cabin. You know, regardless of size, shape, whatever, big, small, 0:22:18.920 --> 0:22:21.880 you know, fat, skinny, whatever the case may be. And 0:22:21.920 --> 0:22:25.959 we went up there and we did, like Arnold Schwarzenegger, 0:22:26.040 --> 0:22:29.920 mister Olympia posing. We actually oiled up with baby oil. 0:22:30.359 --> 0:22:34.720 We went up there, chunky, skinny, whatever the case may be, 0:22:34.840 --> 0:22:39.200 and we were posing, and the camp went absolutely insane. 0:22:40.320 --> 0:22:44.240 And he was one of these guys that again just 0:22:44.240 --> 0:22:48.600 just saw us as kids and wanted us to have 0:22:48.640 --> 0:22:50.919 a good time and feel good about ourselves. 0:22:51.960 --> 0:22:56.040 Camp was a respite kids gained confidence in their new home, 0:22:57.000 --> 0:23:03.000 but it wasn't all friendship, bracelets and koumba. Don't forget 0:23:03.400 --> 0:23:07.480 the camp's main goal was weight loss. Despite being free 0:23:07.520 --> 0:23:11.920 from the school bullies, homework, and social hierarchies, the one 0:23:11.960 --> 0:23:14.680 thing that carried over from the outside world at camp 0:23:15.160 --> 0:23:21.760 was dieting. According to newspaper articles and former campers, Camp 0:23:21.800 --> 0:23:25.880 Shane served a strict diet that ranged anywhere between twelve 0:23:25.920 --> 0:23:30.280 and fifteen hundred calories. Meals could include a breakfast of 0:23:30.440 --> 0:23:34.480 two French toasticks or cereal, maybe a sloppy Joe lunch, 0:23:34.840 --> 0:23:38.800 perhaps a small chicken dinner. Kids were also given two 0:23:38.960 --> 0:23:43.879 snacks a day, a piece of usually bruised fruit, a 0:23:43.920 --> 0:23:46.520 cup of cottage cheese or a small bag of chips. 0:23:47.720 --> 0:23:50.960 Campers were also kept busy, with six to seven activity 0:23:51.000 --> 0:23:55.959 periods daily, each lasting about an hour. The small portions, 0:23:56.160 --> 0:24:00.680 paired with excessive exercise naturally resulted and kids losing weight 0:24:01.560 --> 0:24:07.560 like a lot of weight, and really really fast. 0:24:08.040 --> 0:24:11.159 A kid who weighs one hundred eighty pounds should not 0:24:11.200 --> 0:24:15.800 be down to one hundred and fifty in eight weeks. 0:24:16.000 --> 0:24:17.040 It's not healthy. 0:24:17.600 --> 0:24:20.960 The Camp Shane diet was not only minimal, but it 0:24:21.040 --> 0:24:24.520 was pretty much the same for everyone. Seven year old 0:24:24.560 --> 0:24:28.800 girls were fed the same as sixteen year old athletic boys, 0:24:29.400 --> 0:24:32.679 and that low end of twelve hundred calories, while not 0:24:32.760 --> 0:24:36.679 suitable for even the youngest kids, was definitely below the 0:24:36.800 --> 0:24:41.720 recommended caloric intake for teens. Teen girls should consume at 0:24:41.840 --> 0:24:45.360 least twenty two hundred calories a day, for teen boys 0:24:45.520 --> 0:24:47.080 twenty five hundred calories. 0:24:48.440 --> 0:24:51.119 Because it was like a one size fits all, I mean, 0:24:51.440 --> 0:24:56.040 someone who was like me, who was maybe thirty pounds 0:24:56.080 --> 0:24:58.679 overweight but was active, was eating the same amount as 0:24:58.720 --> 0:25:02.919 someone who was one hundred pounds and inactive. That was 0:25:02.920 --> 0:25:08.639 a problem. It doesn't lead to sustaining this weight loss. 0:25:09.480 --> 0:25:14.080 However, there were some exceptions in the early years, when 0:25:14.119 --> 0:25:17.040 a camper dropped enough weight, they were allowed back in 0:25:17.119 --> 0:25:19.760 the chow line for second helpings as a way of 0:25:19.800 --> 0:25:24.000 maintaining their new body. That is, if the kitchen happened 0:25:24.000 --> 0:25:26.200 to have leftovers from that meal. 0:25:27.440 --> 0:25:29.720 So you could be on like single bubble triples, so 0:25:29.760 --> 0:25:32.040 you'd be like they put you on breakfast, whether they 0:25:32.080 --> 0:25:34.280 put you on lunch, maintenance or dinner, or they put 0:25:34.280 --> 0:25:37.640 you on all three, depending on how much weight you lost. 0:25:37.720 --> 0:25:40.879 When they figured that you hit some certain level, they 0:25:40.920 --> 0:25:43.359 would not want you to lose more weight. 0:25:44.440 --> 0:25:50.080 Eventually, those small portions and hours long workouts got to campers. 0:25:50.560 --> 0:25:54.240 They were hungry, tired, and at times a little unruly. 0:25:55.480 --> 0:25:59.960 Desperate times call for desperate measures, and campers got creative. 0:26:00.880 --> 0:26:01.720 Here's Aril. 0:26:02.320 --> 0:26:04.840 But when we had skim milk, kids were like guzzling it, 0:26:04.880 --> 0:26:07.320 so they had to stop. I think we had a 0:26:07.359 --> 0:26:10.679 salad bar one year without the dressing. The dressing like 0:26:10.800 --> 0:26:12.879 was very small or it was like a fat free dressing. 0:26:13.280 --> 0:26:15.320 And then they used to have ketchup and mustard on 0:26:15.320 --> 0:26:17.680 the tables for like hot dog Day or Hamburger Day, 0:26:18.000 --> 0:26:20.720 and kids were like drinking in the ketchup. There were 0:26:20.800 --> 0:26:24.120 crab apple trees, and every year and crab apples are 0:26:24.119 --> 0:26:26.920 like poison. Every year, inevitably a kid would eat a 0:26:27.359 --> 0:26:29.280 crab apple and go to the nurse and get sick. 0:26:29.680 --> 0:26:32.880 But it was like sort of like this like horrible joke. 0:26:32.960 --> 0:26:35.399 There's apples all around and you can't eat it. It 0:26:35.480 --> 0:26:40.080 was like very uh Bible esque. 0:26:41.280 --> 0:26:45.719 And the more campers were restricted, the more powerful food became. 0:26:47.160 --> 0:26:50.480 Remember those fast food restaurants the kids passed on the 0:26:50.480 --> 0:26:54.439