Parents Furious Camp Photographer Takes Day Off to Attend Grandma’s Funeral

Huron Lake, PA (July 26, 2019) – When Pete Goodzeit took Wednesday off to attend the funeral of his beloved Grandmother, he did not anticipate the backlash he and Camp Huron Lake would receive from parents who had to go one night without validation that their children still existed.  Goodzeit, who normally posts between 800-1,200 pictures broken out by gender every night before midnight, returned Thursday morning although the damage to fragile psyches of the helicopter parents had already been done. 

Upon learning from his father late Tuesday night that his 97-year-old Grandmother passed away during a cocaine and heroin bender, Goodzeit informed director Marty Feldstein then immediately left to start the three-hour drive home to be with his grieving family.  Although the day’s photos had been uploaded to the Camp Minder website, the amateur photog knew there would be a huge void on Wednesday when no pictures would be taken unless Feldstein or another member of the camp staff could fill in for him. 

“I knew there was going to be a problem but no one besides Pete knows how to use this fancy camera he has,” lamented Feldstein.  “I think he’s spoiled these parents.  I had three hundred messages Thursday morning from the answering service and there was an angry mob at the front gate protesting.”

The nightly picture post has, over the past decade, become the lifeblood that connects parents from their children hundreds of miles away, even more so than letter writing.  It is a way for them to dissect the daily events at an exact point in time so they can draw broad-based conclusions as to how their offspring is faring without their parental gaze and hovering only a few feet away.  For many parents the clock hitting 11pm results in a Pavlovian response to check for pictures no matter what they are doing.

“Finally, my wife and I are making love after four weeks of falling asleep after watching Love Island at eight.  We’re both really enjoying reconnecting on a physical level,” lamented Phil Herstein, parent of Huron Lake Inter Boy Nathyn. “Then out of nowhere with no change in her expression, my wife reaches for her iPad to look at pictures while we’re still going at it.  I looked over at the clock and knew why.”

Since the tragic event of not posting pictures on Wednesday night, Feldstein and his staff have implemented an emergency protocol which will alert loved ones through email, text, and recorded phone message that there may not be pictures being posted so they do not have to refresh their screens well into the middle of the night.  In addition, Feldstein is working with local and state police to have messages display on signs of major highways in the tri-state area notifying parents in case their phones/computers are not working properly.