Camp...the long version

How was camp?  That’s the question I get asked that I’m supposed to be able to answer in a few short sentences.  Impossible!  Camp was…amazing, exhausting, frustrating, funny, entertaining, heartbreaking, life-changing…should I keep going?  There’s really no way to describe the week, but I’ll try to share a few stories just to give you a glimpse.  For those of you who need some catching up (Camp? What camp?), Brian and I spent the week volunteering at a camp called Royal Family Kids, which brings kids from the foster care system to camp for a week.  Some of the kids are currently living with foster families; others are with parents or relatives, but are under watch by the state.  Many of the kids have suffered emotional, physical, or sexual abuse.  Many have multiple diagnoses: ADHD, OCD, FAS, and a whole bunch of other things I’d never heard of before.  It’s a tough bunch.

Because of the sensitive situation of many of the kids, we have a lot of special rules at our camp.  The most important rule is the two deep rule: No adult is ever alone with a kid.  For 24 kids, we had 31 adults…and we still felt short staffed sometimes!  One of our first challenges was with D, a super sweet six year old with a laundry list of diagnoses and a wild imagination.  It didn’t take us long to figure out that we would need a new plan for D—he couldn’t handle being with the large group for many of the activities because it was just too much stimulation.  Those of us on the core team spent about an hour that night (at 11pm!) planning out a schedule so that we could have two people with him at all times during the week.  D ended up having an amazing camp experience.  On the first day, Brian got him playing in a huge pile of leaves and on the second day, Brian even got him out in a canoe!  Nearly every staff member has a funny D story from the week.  Mine involves almost getting milked.  “You’re a mama cow and I’m a baby cow and I want to drink milk.”  Ummm…how about a drink of water from this water bottle instead?!

Another challenging kid was DB.  He was one of our oldest campers and was a pretty tough guy.  He wanted nothing to do with any of the singing or Bible stories.  He also liked to provoke some of the other kids.  DB had actually been to a different Royal Family Camp in a previous year and wasn’t allowed to come back.  I’m so glad he came to our camp!  On Wednesday night, we had a super hero party for the boys (and a tea party for the girls).  I watched as DB’s eyes lit up when I pulled an Incredible Hulk costume out of a box.  He couldn’t get that thing on fast enough!  Our tough little bully spent the next hour running around the gym in a costume like a little boy.  At the birthday party the next night, he had the costume on again…this time with a tutu over it!

The tea party was a special event for the girls.  They dressed up in beautiful dresses that were donated and had their hair and make up done.  Then Grandpa Warren (our camp grandpa) escorted each one individually into the tea party, while the fairy godmother introduced them and slowly read off special things their counselors had written about each girl.  All twelve of the little girls looked and felt like princesses!

In Royal Family Kids circles, people talk about your SOTO (story of the one), the story that really sticks with you.  My SOTO involved sweet, quiet J.  J was the last addition to our camp; we actually added her the day before camp because someone else had to drop out.  We knew next to nothing about J before camp and after registration it was clear why: her mom couldn’t wait to get rid of her for the week.  Mom left the church without even saying goodbye to J.  On the first night of camp, J told her counselor that she liked to waltz and had taught herself by watching movies.  I knew it was a perfect match when I found out that her counselor had been a ballroom dance instructor.  J’s home situation was rough.  At nine, she was in charge of changing the diapers of her four year old autistic brother.  Her family was about to be evicted for hygiene reasons and J said that she had worked hard to try to keep the house clean, but everyone else kept messing it up.  On the first night of camp, J was very concerned about our photographer and wanted to know if anyone would be taking pictures at night.  Her counselor explained that we have only one official photographer taking pictures (most staff aren’t even allowed to carry cell phones during the day so there’s no chance of phone photos).  She told her counselor that she asked because sometimes someone comes in at night at home and takes pictures of her.  Ugh.  Seriously, we just wanted to take this one home with us!  On the last day, I was taking down some decorations and I asked her if she would like to take a string of them home with her to decorate near her bed.  She thought about it and then said, “yes, but I’ll decorate the couch because I don’t have a bed anymore.” 

Before camp, neither of us was sure what kind of difference a week could make.  Now that I’ve been through a week, I can tell you that I saw kids change.  They let their guards down.  They played.  They let go of some of the burdens they were carrying at the beginning of the week.  They built relationships with safe adults who loved them and treated them with dignity and respect.  They tried new things.  They sang and they danced without a care in the world.  They heard about how much God loves them. 

I have no idea what the immediate future holds for these kids or whether this week at camp will change their lives forever, but I do know that it made an impact.  All of the kids we had this year will have the opportunity to come back again next year.  I hope that they do.  God willing, Brian and I will be back again, too.  If you’d like to learn more about Royal Family Kids Camp or want to support our camp financially, by volunteering, or through another type of donation, please let me know and I will get you more information.