Camp Fire is a national youth development organization with a long-standing commitment to INCLUSION, connecting kids and teens to NATURE, and helping them find their SPARKS. We create powerful youth experiences so they develop the life skills they need to thrive now and in the future. #campfireforall 

Through the months of November and December, a generous Camp Fire alumna will match the first $2,500 raised!  

• $250 sends two kids to summer day camp for a week
• $150 supports four children in a Camp Fire group to learn life skills for success
• $50 gives one student conflict resolution training for a semester
• AMY AMOUNT helps a young person on their journey to THRIVING!

Here is one parent's testimony of Camp Fire's impact:

"My name is Ursula.  I’m a mother of four children by birth and adoption, and my kids range in age from 4-11.  One of my kids has Down syndrome.  I remember exactly one fact about the year I sent my oldest child to Camp Dakani. As I was driving through the pick-up line, I saw a boy with Down syndrome playing with the other campers - fully included and having a blast.  I loved camp as a kid, but honestly, until that moment, I didn’t think it was the kind of thing that would be available to my daughter with Down syndrome.  Camp Dakani changed all that.  

As a mom of a kid with an intellectual disability, I want my kid to be cherished and included.  I also want people to have high expectations of her and help her thrive.  I can’t begin to explain to you how hard it is to find that combination, and I could tell you a lot of stories about the ways it’s gone south at other places.  No one does inclusion better than Camp Dakani.  Joy is expected to carry her own water bottle and encouraged to try the zip line.  Her hearing aids are taken care of.  She feels like she belongs.  For our family, this is a gift of epic proportions.  

And Camp Dakani isn’t just good for Joy.  All my kids thrive there.  They come home filthy, smelling horrible, and so happy.   They learn how to cook over a fire, catch a frog and paddle a canoe.  They learn to be good friends.  

My son Ephraim has gone every year since he was 5, and this is his last year before becoming a junior counselor.  He can’t wait.  We talk about camp more often then is remotely proportional to the time he spends there because the type of team experiences Dakani provides are so formative and important to little people.  

My daughter Lydia loves camp. Our family dynamic is such that Lydia often can get lost in the shuffle of big sister Joy.   Not at Camp Dakani.  It’s a place she feels seen and known for who she is.  It’s a place she gets to be just a little kid.  It’s also a place where she won the friendship stick one year, one of the happiest achievements of her little life.

This will be Miriam’s first summer at camp.  She has a summer birthday and made sure we scheduled camp week after she was 5.   She is nervous and thrilled to be going.  

Camp Dakani introduces kids to nature, to adventure, to kids from all kinds of backgrounds, to adults that care, and to the best in themselves.  My husband and I both work for nonprofit organizations.  We personally direct significant United Way dollars to Camp Dakani each year, because we love the mission of this organization and are so thankful for what they give our family.

Sincerely,
Ursula Bowling"

Thank you for your generosity, for investing in youth, and making a difference!