With school starting next week, our summer season is officially complete. We had an amazing season of summer camps and recreation center programs (you will hear all about it in next weeks blog) but none of it would have been possible without the amazing support of our sponsors and donors:
- Navy Army CCU
- United Healthcare
- HEB Tournament of Champions
- Coastal Bend Bays and Estuaries Program
- Whataburger
- The Trull Foundation
- Gourley Contracting
- GROW Local South Texas
- Nueces Electric Cooperative
- Coastal Bend Community Foundation
- Bank of America
- Buddy Herin Legacy Foundation
Thanks to our sponsors we were able to raise over $47,000 for our summer 2016 season. We were able to sponsor more kids, and expand into new recreation centers and neighborhoods.
We also had amazing on-site partners who helped our first two camps be the best camps they could be. For our Adventure Delta Camp we camped at the Nueces Delta Preserve and got to experience SCUBA Diving 101 with James Gourley at the Odem Pool. For our Living Local Camp we worked hand-in-hand with GROW Local South Texas, the Corpus Christi Food Bank and Freedom Harvest Farms to show the kids where their food comes from and how to maintain a healthy, local lifestyle. Also during Living Local Camp the kids experience horseback riding through the help of Independence Equine.
It was a team effort from start to finish and we are so happy to have such an amazing support system within the Coastal Bend community.
It was a great summer and I can’t wait to see where we go from here!
“Youth Odyssey is the best group I have been with. It has shown me different skills I can apply into my school, family, and personal life. It has taught me in order to get anything done you need to be able to communicate. You need to be able to work with others no matter the situation. I love Youth Odyssey for many various reasons. One of the main reasons I love it is because it puts trust into the kids they’re helping. At many other organizations it says they are trusting but they are the ones doing everything for the kids. Here we are trusted to lead ourselves. We are not treated as if we are imbeciles. Another reason is because it pushes our comfort levels. We are given opportunities to grow but we are not thrown into it, but guided into expanding our horizons. One of the best reasons I love Youth Odyssey is because it takes these kids from bad homes or neighborhoods and gives them a safe place to be themselves. My list could go on and on because the wonderful things they do.” – 16 year old girl
