Partnering for Progress
Our new climate reality appeared in stark relief over the past several weeks, with fire and smoke blanketing large swathes of North America and Europe.
Massive wildfires in Canada sent plumes of ash across the Midwest and Eastern U.S., while dozens of smaller blazes are raging in Western states. Fires in Spain, France, Greece and Italy have also forced thousands to evacuate as record temperatures in Europe create tinder boxes in what was once a more mild climate.
For Project:Camp, these events – as well as tornados in Wisconsin and flash flooding in Texas and other states – have kept us on high alert. We are constantly monitoring these incidents, reaching out to emergency management personnel, local youth-facing and behavioral wellness groups on the ground, and other NGOs working to respond to these emergencies.
This network of partners that springs into action when children and families are in need is remarkable. Local childcare and mental health collaboratives pop up to help support and find solutions to the most unlikely of problems.
For example, Project:Camp was recently contacted by our emergency management personnel in Orange County, CA to help figure out how to help children and families under evacuation orders due to the compromised chemical tank that was threatening to explode. We were able to quickly reach out to our Rapid Response Camp Network and other partner orgs, including Child Life Disaster Services, who were able to send two of their volunteers into the shelters to connect with kids and help them through this scary situation.
These partners also show up in big ways when we run camps. Our recent camp in Kentucky in response to tornados saw a bevy of partners bring supplies and programming help, including care kits and shoes for kids from Good360, and Sesame Workshop sending Elmo to brighten our campers’ day.
Like most things, these relationships – and the work they take to maintain and foster – happen behind the scenes. We do it to make sure kids and families across the country have the best care possible when they need it most, and we’re so happy to have so many terrific partners who are willing to do this important work with us.
Bulletin Board
Speaking of partners, our good friends at Sesame Workshop are launching a new initiative to help give kids and families resources in the face of more frequent extreme weather events. The initiative includes a new Sesame Street special on Netflix that premieres Aug. 3 and an online resource guide.
In another cool partner moment, our pals at Extreme Weather Survivors are celebrating their third anniversary and have been doing a slate of events over the past week highlighting the stories of community members. They do really great work helping elevate the voices of the impacted, and are definitely worth checking out!
