Return to Camp Centennial Milestones
Dewittville, New York
Established: 1898
Camp Details
In the summer of 1898, a group of boys and leaders from the Jamestown YMCA experienced the first season of YMCA camping in the area. During Onyahsa’s first half-century, the program expanded under the direction of Roy Wagner (1924 – 1946). Among his campers was a child who attended Onyahsa on a scholarship in 1932, Spiro Bello. After service in WWII, Spiro returned to Jamestown, where he became the camp chairman, and thereafter its director.
Under Spiro’s leadership (1962 – 1984), Onyahsa acquired property and physical improvements were made. Program changes such as family, handicapped youth, and coeducational camping were added. Like Wagner, Bello had a lasting impression on the children he guided.
One of Spiro’s many “kids,” Jon O'Brian took the helm
in 1987. He began at Onyahsa as a child. Under his
leadership, the camp has come to serve children from
a wide variety of cultural backgrounds and with various
abilities.
Today, recent major renovations will enable Onyahsa
to continue to fulfill its mission into the next century:
To foster the Spiritual, Mental, and Physical well
being of Camp Participants of diverse backgrounds and
abilities within a nurturing outdoor environment, while
creating a meaningful sense of Community among them.