Sloper Hall of Fame Gets Four New Inductees
YMCA Camp Sloper has inducted three individuals and one family in the Sloper Hall of Fame for the 2026 Class: Shane Altwies, Tony Michaud, Linda Roy, and the Levine Family. The 2026 Sloper Hall of Fame Inductees were honored in an outdoor ceremony at Smokin with Chris on Tuesday, September 29th. “All four of the 2026 recipients have made a huge impact on camp and we are excited to honor them as part of the Sloper Hall of Fame” stated Justin Hubeny, Outdoor Center Director at YMCA Camp Sloper.
The 2026 Hall of Fame Inductees are:
Shane Altwies
Shane Altwies worked at YMCA Camp Sloper in a variety of capacities, working his way up from being a Camp Counselor to Camp Director over his 10 years of employment with us. Shane stated as a Camp Counselor in 2007 and then took his talents over to the Tower and High Ropes from 2008 to 2011, one of his many passion areas. He took a summer off in 2012 and eventually came back to us in 2013 as the CIT Director, then Assistant Director for two summer and finally ended his career as the Camp Director in the summers of 2016 and 2017. Shane also spent about five years on our Professional Staff during that time as the Outdoor Center Program Director. He helped in developing, expanding and enhancing our year-round programs like Teambuilding, Science at Sloper, facility rentals, birthday parties, off-season programs and relationships with the school systems. Shane was always exceptionally talented in marketing, graphic design and video production and really enhanced work in these areas during that time. He was a dedicated, professional, hardworking and had a good understanding of culture, our history, our families, and had great relationships with staff, volunteers and donors. Shane was a great staff member in all of his roles.
Linda Roy
Linda Roy worked for YMCA Camp Sloper from 2007 to 2013 in the role of Camp Administrator. Linda as the Camp Administrator was responsible for handling registration, transportation, parent changes, rental bookings and all the logistics A to Z! Linda did an amazing job helping our camp advance with the times. Linda’s major impact to Sloper really during a time of rapid growth and large enrollment booms. We had just cracked 750 campers per day when Linda arrived at Sloper and we were learning how to be one of the largest day camps in the country. Linda was responsible for the organizational and administrative enhancements to serve all those campers and families. YMCA Camp Sloper credits Linda with the development and implementation of many of the registration procedures, protocols and policies that we are still using today, that help make camp run smoothly on the back end. Linda really helped us modernize and organize our systems and administrative responsibilities to accommodate the growth in that present day and the future. In addition to that we had, during Linda’s time we had gone through several American Camping Association Re-Accreditation sessions. Which basically means we need to meet over 300 standards to stay accredited, and while that was a challenge in itself, we needed someone to organize that information and keep us on the right path! Linda did a great job with keeping everything organized and helping us achieve ACA re-accreditation! On top of all of that, she is just a really great person with a big heart and great family values. It is a true honor to have her as part of the Sloper Hall of Fame.
Tony Michaud
Tony Michaud has been donating his time, talents and treasure since 2011. Tony has served on our Outdoor Center Committee, Building & Property sub-committee, Workday Volunteer on Saturdays and is currently serving in his third term on the YMCA Board of Directors and now Chairs our Property Committee for the Y. Tony has served as Chairman for our Outdoor Center Committee from 2018 to 2023 where his leadership helped us complete our largest capital project ever – the dredging of Sloper Pond! Tony is an Electrician by trade and the owner of MG Electric and Construction, where he has worked since 1989. He has shared his talents with us on many different projects and improvements. At this point Tony has either wired, re-wired, fixed or improved every electrical fixture at Sloper, and he was there as recent as yesterday helping us solve our latest electrical challenge. In our most recent Capital Campaign, Tony really acted as a Co-GC with Mark Pooler to help build the new Calvanese Bathrooms, Barnes Splash Pad, Soccodato Pavilion and most recently the Vasil Family Camp Office and Skarvinko Health Center. For all of his contribution to the YMCA Camp Sloper Capital Campaign, we honored Tony with the naming of the Michaud Family Archery Pavilion where is family name will forever be a part of Sloper History. In addition, Tony has been a very generous donor through the years. He has been a sponsor and participant in many of our special events and generously given donations and in-kind services to several capital campaigns. For the last 15+ years, Tony has been a huge part of our success at YMCA Camp Sloper. Tony has built strong relationships with all of our volunteers and staff at Sloper. Tony is talented, compassionate and really funny too! YMCA Camp Sloper will be eternally grateful for having a dedicated volunteer like Tony Michaud.
The Levine Family
Howard, Julie, and children David, Rebekah, Chavah, Tamara and Daniel. A legendary Camp Family who has been faithful members, campers, volunteers and donors for over 5 decades. The Levine Family joined YMCA Camp Sloper in 1979 as Sloper Outdoor Y Members. Since then, Howard and Julie have spent decades volunteering at YMCA Camp Sloper. They both hike our trails daily sometimes more than once in a day. YMCA Camp Sloper is grateful to know that if there is an issue with our trails, tree down, etc. Howard or Julie will text me and let me know about it. Or they will volunteer to clear it on their own. It means a lot that we have them care about the Sloper property like we do. Julie was a Co-Director for our first year of Running our Wanderers Pre-school program. Julie was also a member of our Volunteer Outdoor Center Committee for some time. She also prior to our trails being blazed, put up many wood burnt signs on trees as “tree identification markers.” The Levine Family as a whole spent a lot of time on the weekend here at Sloper – for open waterfront swim, to hang with our staff members, etc. They also were part of our YMCA Indian Guide program and the Levine family opened up their house at least 3 times for 3 of our international camp staff members and was a host family for them. From John Myers – “The Levine Family was always around to help with projects, and events at our YMCA and Sloper. I spent a bunch of time with Julie marking and clearing our trails at Sloper, they were in very rough shape and hard to navigate. Julie played a major role in helping.” Lastly – Thank you so much for being such a dedicated family to YMCA Camp Sloper. You have given and continue to give so much back to Sloper, just by hiking here every day and helping us with various trail work. We are honored to have the Levine Family in the Sloper Hall of Fame.
The Sloper Hall of Fame was created in 2005 as a way to recognize and reward some of the past camp staff, families, and volunteers who have helped to make YMCA Camp Sloper the great facility it is today. “Remembering those who have paved the way for our present and future generations at camp is very important to us at the YMCA” said Hubeny. "The Sloper Hall of Fame is a way to honor those who have made a lasting impact on the program, facility and people who have enjoyed this special place for many years. And of course, none of this would be possible without the amazing generosity of Cornelia Sloper Neal who donated the property to our YMCA in 1949,” stated Hubeny.
If you would like more information on the YMCA Camp Sloper Hall of Fame please contact Justin Hubeny at 860-621-8194 or jhubeny@sccymca.org.
