Bringing Hope to Beggs
Extreme weather events of nearly every kind lashed the US in March, with snowstorms burying some cities while other areas of the country saw record-setting high temperatures that spiked into the triple digits. Massive rainstorms flooded the Hawaiian islands and tornados tore through a swath of states in the Midwest.
This meant a lot of outreach and assessment for the Project:Camp team. We talked to emergency managers, school officials, mental health advocates, and camp leaders in communities all across the nation trying to discern where to allocate our resources. Ultimately, as is often the case, we landed in a small community devastated by a storm that didn’t make national headlines.
Beggs, Oklahoma sits about 40 minutes south of Tulsa, a small outpost with a population of about 1,200. On March 6, an EF3 tornado tore through the community, causing two fatalities and damaging homes and infrastructure – including a direct hit to the Beggs Public Schools complex that houses the elementary, middle and high schools.
As a result of the tornado, classes were called off indefinitely and our outreach to the community quickly identified that there was a need for childcare to fill the gap. The tornado hit on a Friday night, and we had a scout on the ground Tuesday and opened a free trauma-informed camp for impacted kids less than 48 hours after that. We wound up running seven days of camp over the course of two weeks, providing more than 1,000 hours of care for the community.
We also saw how our growing Rapid Response Camp Network can be a force multiplier for the work we do. Through a partnership with Camp Group, we had two superstar camp directors come to support our efforts in Beggs – Jackie from Camp Kippewa Point and Ben from Lake of the Woods and Greenwoods Camps flew in to help us provide an incredible experience for these kids. They brought incredible energy and enthusiasm with them – and helped build out a stellar program with our camp directors Melissa and Newt, and seasonal director Kam.
And while we had help from all over the country to make this camp happen, the community of Beggs itself was at the heart of the response. We saw the connections and healing camp brings to these tight-knit towns. Many of our volunteers at camp were teachers whose classrooms had been destroyed or damaged in the tornado, and we heard from them about how having a place where they could see their students and make sure they were safe and happy gave them a sense of relief and eased their anxieties as they embarked on the road of recovery. We also received wonderful support from local restaurants, stores and other community groups, including our hosts at the Assembly of God church – shoutout to Pastor Yandell and Youth Pastor Tyler for the hospitality.
It all felt like a culmination of a lot of work and effort that we’ve put into building a system that can support children and families in need – regardless of whether that need hits the front page of the New York Times.
As always, this work was free for the community in Beggs, but the work itself requires financial backing. If you would like to help ensure we can continue to show where we’re needed, you can donate here.
Bulletin Board
If you want a look at the Project:Camp experience through the lens of one of our RRCN superstars, check out Jackie’s blog post on the Camp Kippewa website. Thank you for coming in and helping make camp such as success!
The American Camping Association is holding its inaugural Climate Symposium this week and our very own Board Chair Lorraine Schneider and Deputy Director Ozzie Baron were featured speakers. Our Camps Manager Melissa Young-Crozet was also integral in putting the event together, and we're very excited to be a part of this crucial conversation!
