Reaching kids through partnerships

Do you know who comes the farthest distance to attend summer youth camp at Warm Beach? For the past five summers, Warm Beach Camp has partnered with the Myungsung Presbyterian Church in Seoul, South Korea, and they have been sending kids all the way to the U.S. to go to summer youth camp at Warm Beach, a distance of more than 5,000 miles!

The government in South Korea mandates that everyone learn to speak English. Christian churches there have been teaching English as a second language as an outreach tool. The opportunity to attend a camp in the U.S. has a strong attraction for the kids who attend church, and for the unchurched, as well!

Last summer, a group of kids from a Japanese school started coming to summer camp here, as well. The ministry of WBC’s summer youth camps has turned global!

Not all of the partnerships with WBC are as far reaching, globally speaking, but they still have a profound impact on the lives of the kids who come for a week of summer camp. Last summer, WBC worked with 28 organizations to help bring the kids they work with to camp. These groups ranged from churches, after-school programs, governmental social service agencies, and missions serving the homeless. All told, more than 300 campers came to WBC last summer through partnerships with organizations.

More than $52,000 from the Kids 2 Camp scholarship fund went into helping these campers come to Warm Beach. The partnership organizations invested another $55,000 to help the campers from their groups attend. This multiplies the impact of the dollars given to the Kids 2 Camp program!

This summer, the process starts all over again. WBC will be working with these organizations, coordinating the effort to bring kids to summer camp. Those kids, many of them underprivileged or at risk, will have the opportunity to experience the love of Christian community that takes place at camp, and to hear the gospel of Christ presented in a clear way that youth can understand. For many of these campers, it will be a life-changing experience.

This is only possible because of the generous support and financial gifts of many people. Thank you for helping to touch young lives through the ministry of WBC and the Kids 2 Camp scholarship program.