The past three weeks have been a whirlwind for Project:Camp – and for tens of thousands of families and children impacted by the wildfires in Los Angeles. 

As we close out the year, we’re stopping to reflect and take a look at the impact we had in 2024.

It’s Thanksgiving, and in the spirit of gratitude we wanted to say how much we appreciate the Project:Camp family and everyone who has helped us provide care for children, relief for families, and resilience for communities this year.

We’re on the ground in Western North Carolina running camp for families impacted by Hurricane Helene, which carved a wide path of destruction through the heart of Appalachia. 

Despite our work of the past several years, we are still running into some frustrating systemic barriers when setting up camps to help give kids a space to find a semblance of normalcy while schools are closed and normal childcare networks are disrupted. 

Being able to reconnect and reforge ties of community is the backbone of resilience, and we’re grateful that we can help foster it with a camp in Greenfield, Iowa.

We wrapped up our camp in Sulphur, Oklahoma yesterday after serving more than 300 children impacted by devastating tornadoes that ripped through the state over the last two weeks.

When camp is up and running, it typically means we’re in the middle of a disaster scrambling to operate as the world around us falls to pieces. But starting today we’re helping run a camp just outside Orlando, Florida that’s been planned months in advance.

2023 was a year of growth and evolution for Project:Camp. We’ve quickly left the days of scrappy startup nonprofit behind us and transformed into an outfit capable of popping up trauma-informed camps anywhere in the U.S. in 48 hours.

While our Maui camps were certainly the response that received the most attention, it was far from the only thing we accomplished this year.

Preparedness work is vital. Without the crush of emails, or the never-ending stream of zooms, communities across the world would face even more devastating outcomes when disasters hit.