My daughter, Israel– also called Izzy, is known as the wispy curly-haired girl with the vocabulary of a thirty-year-old rather than a 3-year-old. Her favorite phrases are, “I’m just feeling frustrated” or “Mommy, I need some space.” Let me tell you, she used those phrases a lot being stuck in the house without her friends during the pandemic.

Izzy loves to socialize; she is what you would call a social butterfly and she has a butterfly rain jacket to prove it. Which she gladly opens and pretends to fly around to anyone willing to look. Some of her favorite things to do are dancing, dressing up in fun costumes, and chatting to anyone who is patient enough to listen.

She hated not having the ability to hang out with her friends. She would cry saying she missed Josiah, Denver, Niomi, Moe, and Anthony. (These are Camp staff children around her age.) She missed playing on the playground, hide-and-seek, and fellowship with her community. One of the many benefits of working at Camp is the incredible community of staff, volunteers, and donors who truly love and care for everyone who contributes to the ministry. And for staff kids, this is an unfathomable blessing! They love their community, and they have safety here at Camp that is unparalleled anywhere else. Warm Beach is truly holy ground, and they enjoy stomping around it with each other.

Because of School at Camp, Izzy, and some of the kids from Camp and the surrounding community, have the opportunity to be together, to learn together, to be kids again. Sure, some of them have virtual school lessons built into their day, and yes, they are safeguarded against Covid19 exposure because of the diligent care of the incredible staff running the program. But, the best benefit is for kids to feel like kids again, to relieve some pressure from families, and to feel the benefits of this holy community we call Warm Beach Camp.

A big thank you to the generous donors who provided Kids 2 Camp scholarship funds so that my child and others like her could feel a sense of normalcy and all the other many benefits that come from this incredible program.

-Kayla Stikeleather, Marketing Specialist
Warm Beach Camp Ministries