All throughout my life I was involved with Girl Scouts and sports and, because of this, every summer I’d attend Girl Scout and sports camps. It was great! I was able to make new friends, try new things and grow as an individual. I was fortunate that my parents were able to support these experiences and give me a ton of fond, fun camp memories as well as good life skills.
I had friends who didn’t have these same opportunities and I’d always feel a little bad for them and awkward because I’d come back from camp, we’d hang out and all I would do was gush about my fun camp week; and then it’d be their turn to tell me about theirs. They would say that they’d hung out around the house, played with neighborhood kids, maybe saw a movie or went to the pool. Pretty typical summer time events for a young kid, but no summer camp experience to gush about. So, in normal kid fashion, you just kind of go, “oh, that’s cool, wanna play tag (or Barbie’s), or go swimming?” and the subject was changed and we moved on with our summer festivities.
I mention this because Youth Odyssey works hard to ensure that anyone who wants to attend our summer camps can, no matter their financial standing. I wish more summer camp programs had that same mindset because, if they did, more of my friends could have had the same opportunities I had to grow and create memories through new experiences.
This year we are in need of more sponsorships than ever because we have added two more camps to the schedule. Each of our camps has room for ten youth to participate and last year that wasn’t enough. All of our camps filled up within the first two months of opening registration and we had to create a waiting list for each camp in case someone dropped out. Thus, we have created more summer camps this year in order to shorten waiting lists and create more opportunities for youth to participate in these experiences. More camps equals more kids and more kids equals having a greater impact on young minds. That also means we need additional monetary support for those who can’t afford camps on their own.
Youth Odyssey is able to support those who need financial assistance by offering sponsorships to those in need. Each camp costs “X” amount of money and, based on how much money we are able to raise, will dictate how many sponsorships we can offer. Most years we are able to raise funds for all youth who are in need of them; and we hope to continue this level of support this year and every year.
The way we gain sponsorships is by approaching businesses and getting the word out that we are looking for donations to help us “send a kid to camp” (through Facebook, Instagram, blogs, our website, and word of mouth). Each camp has a set cost, either $400 or $500 for one youth to attend, depending on the camp. This allows individuals or companies the chance to sponsor a child and allow them to attend our camps free of cost. Our sponsorships range from sponsoring an individual (the above prices), to sponsoring an entire camp; $5,000, to sponsoring our entire summer camp season; $25,000. Obviously, anyone can donate any amount they would like towards our summer camp sponsorships because we know that every dollar counts.
We are currently looking to acquire more donations and sponsorships and we’d love for you all to share this information with friends, family, coworkers and bosses, and see if they’d be willing and able to help us give every kid the chance to experience one of our amazing summer camps!
