New Mexico Camp in the Books!
Our plan heading into May was to use the month as a sort of final staging operation in order to prepare for the summer and fall months when wildfires and other natural disasters have a tendency to strike.
The drought-stricken Southwest had other plans for us, however, and we wound up spending nearly two full weeks in May running a camp for families impacted by the largest wildfire in New Mexico state history.
Despite the early onset of the wildfire season, we were able to get our camp up and running in Glorieta, NM – just outside of Santa Fe – within 48 hours of our decision to go. While there were a few initial hiccups on the way to New Mexico, the experience was a terrific lesson in how preparation and having processes in place can help overcome unanticipated challenges.
Once we were on the ground, camp went off without a hitch. Our host, Glorieta Adventure Camps, provided us with a great space that included open fields, basketball and tennis courts, and the camper favorite GAGA BALL pits. Outdoor activities also included mini golf, games with local fitness superstar Rebx Berdel, and the first annual Project:Camp relay race extravaganza. We also had a robust arts and crafts program supported by Generation Human Rights’ Founder and Executive Director, Elana Haviv, and the kiddos were also treated to a wonderful tour through our solar system courtesy of the Santa Fe Childrens’ Museum’s mobile planetarium.
Our program ran for 10 consecutive days, during which we provided 1,488 hours of free, trauma-informed child care for families impacted by the wildfires. We saw more than 50 unique campers during that time, and provided nearly 250 camper days. The camp was also an incredible opportunity for the New Mexico community to give back, and we had local volunteers give more than 300 hours of their time to make the camp a special space for the kids.
It was also an opportunity for our new seasonal directors, Yatiel Owens and Nathaniel “Than” Meier, to get some of their first on-the-ground experience in what is going to be a busy summer of camps!
Yatiel is a former camp director with decades of experience in camp administration and is also a professor of social work at Humboldt State University. Her understanding of trauma-informed and trauma-transformed models of care is exceptional and she’s already helping us deepen our programming and the thought processes behind how we work for children who have been through traumatic experiences.
Than is a former U.S. Marine who has a rich background in logistics, project management, and working with children in a variety of settings, including years of coaching and mentoring. He brings an indefatigable spirit to the team and thrives in disaster environments where he can put his problem-solving mentality to its best use.
In addition to Than and Yatiel, we had an incredible group of volunteers who made our campers’ experience truly memorable. Special thanks to Yesh Kattegummula and his team from Deloitte who sent a veritable legion of ringers to help us run camp during the second week we were in Glorieta.
And we would be remiss to not give an extra special shoutout to New Mexico’s Children Youth and Families Department. John Jaramillo and his whole team made sure we were supported and provided a bevy of staffers to help as volunteers. We were also able to welcome CYFD’s Cabinet Secretary, the Hon. Barbara J. Vigil, who stopped by camp to talk about our program and check in on the children.
As always, it was the little moments during camp that stood out and made it another unique and unforgettable experience for the kids. We found two-tailed lizards and fuzzy-wuzzy caterpillars and named them after our favorite counselors. We created epic comic books detailing our anamorphic adventures meeting new friends and escaping to new realms. We learned the rules of formal debate and rebutted our peers’ arguments with well-reasoned diatribes arguing the merits of whether jungle gym equipment should be fused into a more elaborate arrangement or left as is.
All in all, it was camp! We made a mess, we cleaned it up, and we left with memories to last a lifetime.
With gratitude,
Mikey
Bulletin Board
We’ve had a huge outpouring of support over the last month and we want to recognize a few of our funders who help make the work we do possible. The California Fire Foundation – one of our earliest and most staunch supporters – has come through with two new grants for us: one for running camps in California this summer and another to help create and implement a disaster response plan in Fresno County’s ridge communities that accounts for the needs of children and families. Thanks to Sarah and Amy Howard and everyone at CFF for your continued support!
The California Community Foundation – another one of our biggest supporters! – also came through with a grant that will help us organize two communities and run a camp over the next year. Huge thanks to Jason Boone and Jarrett Barrios who have been in our corner since day one and helped make Project:Camp what it is today.
Our dear friends at the North Valley Community Foundation also made another commitment to help us do organizing work in Butte and Glenn counties. NVCF has been behind some of our most important organizing projects and Kim DeFour has not only been a huge part of our funding but an invaluable advisor and connector as well.
We were lucky enough to connect with the Santa Fe Community Foundation while we were running our camp in New Mexico and they generously offered to help defray the cost of running our Glorieta pop-up. A heartfelt thanks to Diane Hamamoto who actually came to camp and saw the program. It was great having you with us and we look forward to working with you in the future!
