You can make a difference

Camping Magazine, March-April, 2003 by Catharine Bonner Boynton

Imagine...it is the middle of summer, and Joe, a ten-year-old boy from the inner city, is sitting home watching TV. Joe's mom works two jobs, and Joe is afraid to go outside because of the violence in his neighborhood. He has heard about those summer camps . how he wishes he could go....

As a camp counselor working with inner-city children, I tried to imagine the life these campers live. Camp was a pivotal experience for these kids and provided them with a safe, fun, healthy environment they had never really known. I also realized how fortunate I was to have the opportunity to attend camp as a child. I remember the canoe trips, hiking in the woods, camp dances, and the friends I met each summer. It was then that I decided I wanted to make attending camp possible for more low-income children. So the search began for a creative way to raise money to pay the registration cost for as many children as possible.

In the spring of 2002, I decided to raise money for camp scholarships while achieving a personal goal of swimming one mile. I began training and talking to co-workers and friends about my double goal. I got sponsors for my challenge, which I called "Laps of Love," and raised $1,075 for Camp Algonquin in Illinois. Pretty good for my first event! Organizing die event was easy, with sponsorship checks written to the camp--with "Laps of Love"--written on the memo line. The money raised during my swim was enough to pay for two campers to attend one week of resident camp.

Not one to be satisfied that easily, I decided to combine another personal challenge with a new fund-raiser. I found Camp Hobe, a camp for children with cancer, near my home in Utah and set out to raise money for their campers this summer. I recruited five friends to bike fifty miles with me and get sponsors for the ride. 'Pedaling for Possibility" succeeded this August in raising $975, which allowed three children to attend Camp Hobe. These events were adventures and challenges for me personally and left me feeling very fulfilled.

The best part about this fund-raising idea is that anyone can do it. The likelihood of success is so great because you can pick an event you are personally committed to, like my lifelong goal of swimming a mile. My challenge to you as camp directors! counselors/staff is to brainstorm ideas you could use for personal fulfillment AND fund raising. Challenge yourselves to help a child, who may not have the funds for camp, to experience your camp.

Some Strategies for Success

* Pick a goal with personal meaning to you or your staff.

* Decide on a creative name for the event.

* Have sponsorship checks written to the camp, with the event name written on the memo line.

* Have a staff member write the sponsored camper before camp starts (like a big brother/sister).

* Thank your sponsors!

Good luck and happy pedaling, swimming, dancing, walking ... camping.

Catharine Banner Boynton, camp director at Camp Trailside Summer Camps, Killington, Vermont, has worked in the camp industry since 1992. She graduated in 2001 from Aurora University with a master's in outdoor recreation administration and is presently a ski school supervisor at Deer Valley Ski Resort, Utah.