A Chicago Family’s Y Story, Passed On: Meet the Paluch Family Scholarship

“When kids have a solid foundation, they can make it through difficult times. I think everyone is vulnerable, you know, kids, everyone. And having solid, positive experiences makes you more able to overcome challenges and problems.”
—John Paluch

Ask John Paluch why camp matters and you won’t get a speech about archery ranges or canoe docks (though Camp Duncan has both). You’ll hear about the kind of footing a kid builds when they spend a week in the same cabin with new friends, trying things they’ve never tried and discovering they’re braver than they thought.

John has seen the “camp impact” take shape up close—in his parents, in his brothers and sisters, and in his own life. Now he’s making sure more kids get the chance. Through the Paluch Family Scholarship, he’s sending Chicago Public Schools students to a full week of overnight camp at YMCA’s Camp Duncan.

This summer, 24 kids packed their bags, waved goodbye to the city, and headed north. Here’s how one family’s Y story is being passed on to generations to come.

Camp Duncan
About an hour north of Chicago, in Ingleside, Illinois, city skylines give way to 300 acres of woods, fields, and the shoreline of Fish Lake. That’s Camp Duncan.

Campers bunk in cabins with kids their own age, and counselors quickly become their biggest cheerleaders. The days are full. There’s boating and swimming out on the lake, archery and rock climbing, sports, art, and fishing (on Fish Lake, the name delivers). Evenings wind down around the campfire with stories, songs, and the kind of laughter that continues well after lights-out.

It’s a lot of fun. That’s the point. But it’s also more than fun. Every rock wall climbed and every new connection made is a small lesson in courage, trust, and belonging. Kids figure out how to share space, cheer each other on, and try again after a miss.

A Springboard for Kids
For plenty of Chicago families, a week of overnight camp isn’t on the summer menu. Cost, distance, and logistics can put it out of reach, no matter how much a kid would love it.

The Paluch Family Scholarship changes that. It covers one week of YMCA overnight camp at Camp Duncan for Chicago Public Schools students who might not otherwise have the opportunity. That means the whole experience: the cabin, the counselors, the lake, the campfires, all of it.

For John, though, the scholarship isn’t really about one great week. It’s about what that week sets in motion.
“It’s a springboard, in my opinion, to give them great skills and experiences that will then accompany them through life,” he said. “I saw what Y Camp did for my father. I saw what it did for my siblings and me.”

When we asked why he chose Camp Duncan, John pointed to what happens inside those cabin walls. “There’s so much learning that takes place in such an environment when you’re together with eight or 10 kids in a cabin and you have to find your way and you find common ground,” he said. “Camp also teaches kids how to follow your own path and become who you want to be. I think that’s what Camp Duncan and all camps help kids to do.”

A Family Y Story
John’s connection to the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago goes back further than his own childhood. It starts with his father.

“My father had the good fortune of having the Division Street YMCA as a second home during his childhood, which included summers at YMCA Camp Channing,” John said. “The Y accompanied my father through his life.”

And it didn’t stop with him. From around 1952 to 1979, Eve and Ed (Polo) Paluch made family camp at Channing a tradition, returning summer after summer for a week or two at a time. Decades later, those weeks still come up whenever the siblings get together.

“My brothers and sisters (Abraham, Amy, Jane, John, Miriam & Christopher) all remark continually on the importance of our 1–2 week family camp experiences as foundational for our later lives,” John said. “The interactions with people from every walk of life, in addition to my father’s childhood friends from the Division Street Y, shaped us and were instrumental as we grew into adulthood, established our families, participated in communities and developed our own professional and personal interests.”

That’s the funny thing about camp. Swimming and campfires are what kids look forward to. The friendships, the wider view of the world, the sense of belonging to something bigger—those are what stick around for a lifetime. The Paluch family is living proof.

Camp’s Lifelong Impact
This summer, 24 kids from nine Chicago Public Schools and community organizations—LaSalle, Von Linne, O.A. Thorp, Edwards, Libby, Calmeca Academy, Holey, Stone Scholastic, and Audubon—attended Camp Duncan. Representing neighborhoods all across the city. Different blocks, different backgrounds, same cabin.

Kids who’ve never held a paddle find themselves steering a boat across Fish Lake. One parent summed it up beautifully: “It was incredibly meaningful for our children, who are surrounded by the city every day, to spend a week immersed in nature. Most summer days blend together, but this is one of those weeks they will remember for years to come.”

John has seen the power of weeks like that. Over his many years of teaching, he noticed something about the people who’d been to camp.

“All the people I’ve met through my many years of teaching, who made mention, ‘Oh, I went to camp,’ they all had a different perspective on life,” he said. “They all were more mature. You could see this openness to the world. It’s really so interesting to see how a camp experience, whether it’s a one, two-week period or every summer for 10 years, how that changes people because it puts them in an environment where kids can become their best selves.”

The Proof Shows Up on the Last Day
At Camp Duncan, you can see a week’s worth of growth in the final goodbyes.

“Watching these campers leave at the end of the week, sharing hugs with counselors, exchanging phone numbers with new friends, and excitedly telling their families stories from camp reminded all of us why opportunities like this matter so deeply,” said Jason Kuffel, Executive Director of Camp Duncan and Camp Independence.

Those hugs, those phone numbers, those stories tumbling out on the ride home—none of it happens without neighbors like John, who believe every kid deserves a week like this.

Thank You, John
To John and the entire Paluch family: thank you. Thank you for believing in Camp Duncan’s mission and for investing in kids who will carry these memories for the rest of their lives. What started for your father at the Division Street Y is now reaching a whole new generation of Chicago kids. We’re so grateful for your partnership, and we can’t wait to keep building this scholarship together so even more kids can experience the magic of camp in the years ahead.

Inspired by John's Story?
If John’s story sparked something in you, here’s how you can help send a kid to camp.