The Hovey Culture

Long before the heartbreaking closing of Camp Babcock-Hovey in Ovid NY on November 1, 2022 a unique and amazing volunteer culture had been growing since the early 1940's. The original Hovey Legends were the founders and volunteers who made the establishment of former BSA Camp Babcock-Hovey possible. Fast forward to 2021... For the past 85 years, dedicated Scouters and hard working volunteers of all ages have taught mutual respect, adherence to the Scout Oath, Law, and Outdoor Code, and cheerful service to others in fellowship on Hovey's hallowed ground.

The dedication, love, and careful consideration of what programs they ran and their interactions with the families of our communities, inspired the Volunteer Legacy Training Center (VLTC), an online resource that pointed volunteers (many who have lost their home camps) to required training so they can carry on traditions, build their legacies, and achieve spiritaul fulfillment through cheerful service to others.

This process has been carried on by Hovey volunteers, their children, and the families who attended the back to back BSA and Cub Resident camps at Hovey. Adult and youth staff worked together to provide safe, engaging, and educational summer youth program. Many of the BSA summer camp Youth staff would stay on to voulnteer for the 2 session Cub Resident Camp. The 100% volunteer CRC staff always brought their Cubs as Jr. Assistants and would collaborate with the remaining BSA staff to put on a family values oriented program that was successfull for over 30 years. Everyone involved fell in love with the experience and returned year after year, further strengthening relationships with eachother and the camp.

Over the 6 years of Cubs and 7 more in Scouts (both as campers and volunteer staff), strong bonds of fellowship were formed between the Adults, their children, the Youth Staff, and the campers until the entire community involved with Scouting on the sacred land of Babcock-Hovey became one big family.

Eventually as they aged, the youth staff grow into adulthood, had children of their own, and returned once more to Babcock-Hovey as campers, Scouters, and volunteers... perpetuating the cyle and passing on the culture, traditions, and spirit unique to Hovey. Everyone involved learned, grew, laughed, crieed, ate, slept, and dreamed together in those cedar forests on the shores of Seneca Lake that we alum will always call home.Some of the feelings Babcock-Hovey inspired are described as "an intense spirit of family radiating from the land and people that bathes your soul in a warm glow of fellowship". Working with the youth and families over the years and watching eachother grow and develop generates "a deep and irresistable need to continue attending and volunteering at Hovey events that lasts well into your senior years."

Returning to Hovey invariably results in the senstion of "coming home again", and the smells and sounds of camp as you drive down the main road can bring a smile to your face no matter the troubles in your life. The structure of nurturing support that exudes from those who volunteer here compells embrace, and the ties that bind are strenthened with every collaboration.

The time you spend in camp is more often than not "a joy and a treasure of nature". Flaura and fauna abound in harmony from the fish in Pooler's Pond to the Raccoons whose masked faces peer from every Hovey patch and tshirt. Even the mosquitoes are kept in check by the naturally insect repellant cedar forests that surround the camp. Seneca Lake protects the land adjacent under what is affectionately called the "Hovey Bubble", and though the most intense storms often pass to the north and south, rains that do fall are more often than not fleeting and refreshing.

Honored traditions such as Hovey's infamous "Camp Names" for all staff create lasting legacies of immortal characters like "Scoops", "Nemo", "Squatch", and "Dipper". "Classified" (a youth staff member) likened the phenomenon to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with each volunteer event playing out like its own movie. The dining hall "Roughnecks" with their raucous antics and amazing meals bring both laughter and flavor to the lips simultaneously. Afterwards, the optional non-sectarian Vespers services held at either the Lakeside or Forest Chapels provide food for the soul and sustainance to the spirit, and no day is complete without the obligatory visit to the Trading Post & Museum for that late evening snack.

When it comes time to leave you might experience hearty relief and deep saddness, for though each event brings its own set of emotional, physical, and spiritual challenges, as you drive away you might find yourself already planning the next visit. Words cannot express the joy, fulfillment, and contentment volunteering at camp Babcock-Hovey brings. The only way to truly understand is to experience it yourself. If you look close however, you can catch glimpses on the faces and glints in the eyes of those who already carry Hovey volunteer culture in their hearts.