Summer Flies When You Are Having Fun!

Do you have fond memories of summer camp?  For lots of Bridge kids, summer provided mountains of memories.  Financial scholarships enabled Brianna, Kayla and Kristian to attend Covenant Harbor Camp in Lake Geneva for one week.  Kayla told me that learning about and riding horses was a highlight of her summer, along with the mud pit! (I guess some things are still fun only when you are a kid!)   Brianna said camp helped her become more social and also more open about her faith, along with the banana boat!   Covenant Harbor also welcomed one of our families as part of their Covenant Family Camp.  Mom said that camp provided her kids with “normalcy.”  At camp, “they were not kids from a struggling family, but simply kids.”    

WalCamp in Kingston, Illinois also hosted several of our kids again this year.  One of the highlights for one of our physically challenged Bridge kids, was Handycamp.  This high school junior said he was able to enjoy summer camp for the first time, and that he could participate in all activities like a normal kid…..and “they didn’t make me feel handicapped!”

But the one repeated comment from the kids was that making new friends was the best memory of camp.

Other camps that welcomed our kids were Chicago Bears Camp, Indian Boundary YMCA, BR Ryall YMCA, Heritage YMCA, Fry YMCA, Kohler YMCA, local park district camps and pools, swim camp, High School Football Camps, and enhanced summer programming at child care centers.

These experiences have been made possible in cooperation of several scholarship opportunities, including funding from each camp, the generosity of individual donors, and the Bridge Builders Scholarship Fund.  Scholarships include payment of fees, transportation and donations of needed camp supplies.

Most importantly these memories are because we strongly believe that summer camp can and does change lives.

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