The David Eccles School of Business sponsored 2 service days for Camp K.
The students in the MBA program have been coming to Camp K for many years for an annual service project. They work together in teams, and fully manage projects here at Camp K. This provides them with practical experience while they learn valuable team building and project management skills. This partnership benefits Camp K, the students, the U of U, and the community as a whole. This year they helped us spruce up our property by weeding, tilling the sand in the picnic area, stacking firewood, cleaning moss from the pond, among other activities.
The MSIS program joined us for their first Camp K day of service. They completed projects including cleaning up trails, mowing, painting, and other activities. We are excited for the new partnership with this MSIS program, and will be working with them on upcoming projects.
We appreciate the student’s dedication and hard work – and look forward to welcoming them back in the future.
We are both proud grateful to be the first Charity admitted to the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Program. This program was created to help entrepreneurs create jobs and economic opportunity by providing greater access to education, capital, and business support services. This gave us the opportunity to become more visible in the community, to work on our strategic plan, and ultimately to make Camp K a better place, not only for our campers, but for our entire community.
The months of August and September were very busy with volunteer groups performing service projects at Camp K. We are grateful to all organizations who have joined us for service projects. These teams have helped us maintain and beautify our 25-acre campus. Their service is invaluable, as it helps us to ensure that our campus is accessible to our campers. Without their help and support, we would not be able to provide the wonderful services we do.
“Together we dream, together we do.”
Mircea Divricean
Camp K was honored to receive a $5,000 grant from the Utah Families Foundation. This award was presented to Camp K at the 2014 Utah Charities Golf Challenge on August 18, which was hosted by Senator Orrin Hatch.
The Utah Families Foundation was established to assist Utah families and individuals .
Camp K is proud to announce that we received a $4,000 Quality of Life grant from the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation. This award was one of 73 grants, totaling over $537,550, awarded by the Reeve Foundation to nonprofit organizations nationwide that provide more opportunities, access, and daily quality of life for individuals living with paralysis, their families, and caregivers. Conceived by the late Dana Reeve, the program has awarded 2,380 grants totaling over $17.6 million since 1999.
About the Reeve Foundation
The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation is dedicated to curing spinal cord injury by funding innovative research and improving the quality of life for people living with paralysis through grants, information and advocacy. We meet all 20 of the Better Business Bureau’s standards for charity accountability and hold the BBB’s Charity Seal, The Paralysis Resource Center (PRC) is a program of the Reeve Foundation, and is funded through a cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Award No. U59DD000838. For more information, please visit their website at www.ChristopherReeve.org or call 800-539-7309.
Camp K would like to thank Carl Jensen with Sierra RV in Sunset Utah for their continuous support of our mission, and for their generous donation of two golf carts! (combined value of $10,000)
As a nonprofit, Camp K often looks to the community to help support our mission of improving the quality of life for people with disabilities through recreation, education, and growth experiences — THANKS
Camp K would like to thank Richard Greene for spearheading the East Millcreek Neighborhood Party.
This was a great opportunity for friends, neighbors, and the community to gather and enjoy a fun-filled evening. There was great food and entertainment – including a live band, dunk tank, slide, and bounce-house.
All proceeds from this party (more than $3,000) were generously donated to Camp K. Thanks again to Richard, the planning committee, and the neighbors for hosting this event.
As we wind up our Summer Camp programs, we are grateful for all our campers who came to Camp K. We are also grateful for our exceptional staff who helped us fulfill our mission of improving the quality of life for people of all abilities. We would like to share a story from one of our counselors — you may know him as “The Hammer”.
“The Hammer” (bottom center) with a few of his friends
The Hammer came to us from Bountiful – after a friend told him about our Summer Camps and what we do. When he applied at Camp K, he was considering going back to school – but we’ll hear more about that later.
The Hammer has high-functioning autism, and he shared with the Camp K staff his experience as a Camp K counselor:
“When I was younger, I was really going through a tough time and my brother Shaun, my mom, and several friends ALL said to me, ‘I see a lot more confidence in you than you see in yourself,’ and their words were something I’ve carried with me…”
“While not always easy, working at Camp K has been a blessing because it has served as a chance for me to realize my own potential and capabilities while helping others who may be experiencing the same things I did or went through. You know, with autism, people often get stuck being in their, ‘own little world’, and it is sad because the world often treats a disability as a stigma without trying to understand what a person is going through or feeling…”
“…But as we all know, all the campers that we’ve seen this summer are so totally amazing, and I know that our experience here will all make us better husbands or wives and parents.”
After finishing up with Camp K, The Hammer mentioned that he’s seriously considering going back to school to learn more about working with people with disabilities. In paraphrasing an admired athlete, The Hammer said:
“When it comes to achieving your dreams and desires, you have two choices: (1) You can sit there and daydream about it, or (2) you can get up and go out there and make them happen.”
We here at Camp K wish The Hammer — and the rest of our amazing summer staff — all the best!
What a summer season! We had another record-breaking Summer Camp, with 10% more campers attending than last year – and we still had a waiting list for new participants. We created a new partnership with National History Museum of Utah, and continued our partnerships with the Children’s Tumor Foundation, National Kidney Foundation of Utah and Idaho, Primary Children’s Spina Bifida Clinic, and Prader-Willi Syndrome Association.
Thank you to our Staff for all of your assistance in creating another successful Summer Camp season! And, thank you to our volunteers, campers, and families for your participation and support. Together, we developed new relationships, created many wonderful stories to share, and made memories which will last a lifetime!
I would also like to thank our donors, supporters, and Board Members. The continuous generosity of our community allows us to provide these wonderful experiences for our campers.
Now that Summer is over, we are excited for our upcoming Community Based Programs, which run through the Fall, Winter, and Spring. We have made some exciting changes to our programs this year – Each month has a Theme, designed to assist our participants become more independent. September’s Theme is: Communication Skills. Our Programs begin on September 20, with the Welcome Back Carnival Party.
“Together we dream, together we do.”
Camp K would like to thank LDS Humanitarian Services for their kind and generous donation of 110 mattresses.
For those with their humanitarian work, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has a long history of actively providing relief and aid to individuals, families, and communities, here in Utah, and throughout the world
In addition to helping agencies like Camp K that provide services to special populations, The Church also provides emergency response relief following disasters, helps provide access to clean water, immunizations, as well as many other worth causes.
Nine short weeks ago, Camp K welcomed our 17th National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) AmeriCorps team – Silver 6. These 8 volunteers underwent two weeks of training (including SOAR, equestrian and ropes course/climbing training), and then served as our valued counselors and staff during the months of June and July.
Over the six-and-a-half weeks of camps, these amazing people staffed our Residential Camps, our Summer Day Camps, and our Travel Trips Camps, in addition to helping us with our fundraisers and Camp K events
Anna (Team Leader) said that coming to Camp K was the perfect capstone for their 10 month tour. “At it’s heart, AmeriCorps looks to develop young leaders, and we were thrust into leadership roles that really challenged us and changed us for the better.” Kevin described their time by saying, “With AmeriCorps, and Camp K,we really had to step out of our comfort zones and see what is out in the world — we weren’t in a bubble with a project — we were with real people and we could see how we made a real difference, a real impact, in people’s lives each day.”
Among the AmeriCorps team’s memorable experiences, Ben said he was moved by a mother who was crying at how happy her son was, after a week at Camp K. Courtney, another AmeriCorps team member, said she really was surprised at how much she grew as a person and how much she learned from our campers and her fellow counselors — She, along with two other AmeriCorps team members can’t wait to come back to Camp K, after their AmeriCorps debriefing, as summer camp counselors and staff — at Camp K! We’ll see Courtney, Kevin, and Trevor again soon!!
About AmeriCorps: AmeriCorps engages over 80,000 Americans, annually, in service projects for schools, public agencies, community and faith-based groups, and nonprofits. Since 1994, close to 1 million AmeriCorps members have contributed over 1 billion hours in service across America. For more information about AmeriCorps, please visit: www.NationalService.gov.
As we finish out our 3rd week of camp, we had a chance to catch up with one of our returning campers — Rusty. Rusty has been coming to Camp K for over 20 years. When not coming to summer camp, Rusty also comes to our community-based programs. Here is what Rusty had to say:
What activities do you like to come to Camp K for?
“I like the trips — like the trips to the Boondocks and Jazz games. They are so much fun! I got to do the fan tunnel at the Jazz game, last year!”
What else do you like?
“Horseback riding and swimming.”
This year, Rusty has participated in two weeks of Travel Trips and has gone to Bryce Canyon and Zions National Park, and he’ll be coming back two more times. Here is what Rusty had to say, in his own words, about his experience so far:
What is your favorite thing about Travel Trips Camp?
“Camping and seeing the sights. It’s fun to travel around and see the country!”
What else do you like?
“Seeing friends and making new ones.”
How are your counselors on your Trips?
“They’re all very nice.”
If you had to describe Camp K to a friend that’s never been here, what would you say?
“Fun!”
We also had a chance to sit down with Rusty’s counselors and here’s what they had to say:
What can you tell us about Rusty?
“There is one word to use when describing Rusty, “Helpful.” Rusty is great to have with us because he is always there to help us and help out other campers.”
Another counselor described Rusty by saying, “Rusty knows these sites better than us.”
Summer is always our busiest time of year, and this year is no different. As we approach the mid-way point for summer camp, we have many great stories to share including Rusty’s, who you’ll hear from in this newsletter
Push America Team
The success of our camps rely so heavily on our staff and I’d like to acknowledge and thank them for all their efforts. I’d also like to take a moment to thank our supporters that came to Family Fun Day and stayed for our Concert in the Canyon with Scott Helmer, the Intermountain Porsche Club who included Camp K as part of their 5th annual Amazing Rally, executives that joined us at Camp K for the Salt Lake Chamber Business After Hours in May, the 36 bicyclists from Push America who stopped by for a tour (see picture below), and all those who came out for our 14th annual Camp K Classic golf tournament.
Finally, I’d like to restate our vision at Camp K: To ensure that individuals with physical and cognitive challenges achieve full participation in their communities by focusing on their abilities and through the development, implementation, and dissemination of innovative life-long educational strategies.
National touring and recording artist, Scott Helmer, is working to help charities across the U.S raise $1 million for their respective causes. He played at Camp K on May 31.
We appreciate Scott for including us on his tour. We had a wonderful time at his concert.
For more information about Scott Helmer, please visit his website: www.scotthelmer.com
We would like to thank Jeff & Tania Miller of Mark Miller Subaru for choosing Camp K to participate in their Do Good Feel Good campaign of 2014. With the help of several new Subaru owners and Mark Miller Subaru, Camp K received nearly $7,000 in donations. The money raised will help us support our Mission and we thank Mark Miller Subaru and all of the new Subaru owners who chose Camp K!! THANKS!!!
Jeff Miller, Mircea Divricean
As I mentioned earlier this month at our Send A Kid to Camp Gala, I believe every generation has the opportunity and the responsibility to invent a new world that is better for everyone. I am thankful, that so many of our supporters came to our gala and gave generously to help support our mission and our Summer Camps. I would also like to thank our evening emcees (Shotgun Jackson and Carly Cash of K-Bull 93 FM), musicians (The Zion String Quartet and Peter Breinholt), Aspen Press (invitations and programs), our guest speaker, Mike Schlappi, our Presenting Sponsor, Program Sponsors, and Table Sponsors, and the entire Ivory family who helped us put together our auction items.
Clark Ivory, Ellis Ivory, Mircea Divricean
Also, I would like to extend our congratulations to Ivory Homes, the recipient of the 2014 Camp K Children’s Humanitarian Award, presented during our Gala, for their contributions to our communities.
While you are likely familiar with our Mission, I would also like to share with you our vision as we prepare for summer camp: Our vision is to ensure that individuals with physical and cognitive challenges achieve full participation in their communities by focusing on their abilities and through the development, implementation, and dissemination of innovative life-long educational strategies.
Together we dream, together we do.
Mircea Divricean