Dear Camp Fire Friends,
I hope you and your family are staying healthy and taking care of yourselves as we near the end of this unforgettable year. The pandemic has been difficult on all of us, and yet I have been incredibly encouraged by the unprecedented levels of support we have received from our community over the past several months.
Many of our loyal supporters have given more generously this year than ever before. They’ve given to our Caring for Camp Fire Fund because they care about Camp Fire. They want to do their part in helping us survive the devastating financial impact that COVID-19 has had on our council.
I know how much you care about Camp Fire and I invite you to show your support today by making a donation to our Caring for Camp Fire Fund.
Join Our Family of Monthly Givers or Make A One-Time Gift Today!
Your tax-deductible year-end gift will help us weather this crisis and set the stage for a strong recovery as we emerge from this pandemic.
Your generosity will help us:
- Increase accessibility and participation of people of color in Camp Fire programs, staff, volunteers and board.
- Create new school partnerships like Outdoor Connections at Camp Sealth
- Offer more financial aid to low-income youth from underrepresented communities.
- Protect and preserve our aging facilities and treasured grounds at Camp Sealth.
Going into 2020, we were excited to celebrate Camp Sealth’s Centennial with our campers. We were financially healthy, debt-free, and looking forward to welcoming a record number of summer campers.
Then came COVID-19. We had to shut down all in-person programming. We issued refunds to families, cut our expenses by over 50%, and postponed planned maintenance and upgrade projects at Camp Sealth. Canceling all summer camps dealt an especially hard blow, costing us 75% of our income.
The pandemic also forced us to get creative. We came up with new ways for youth to stay connected with Camp Fire, like our Outdoor Connections program. This partnership with Vashon Island Schools helped youth, teens, and families safely navigate the challenges of remote learning. We upgraded our Camp Fire Group Program to a new online platform and have welcomed many new youth and teens to the Camp Fire family. And here’s what one teen had to say about LEADing the Way, a summer program we offered to teens for the first time this past summer.
“I’ve learned so much at Camp Sealth, including open communication and discovering my strengths. The friends I made there have brought incredible joy to my life, and staying in touch with them through the LEADing the Way program has helped me cope during quarantine.” – Athena, Camp Fire Teen Leader
Camp Fire needs your support to meet the challenges ahead with creativity, resilience, and confidence in our future. Please consider making your year-end, tax-deductible gift to Camp Fire today.
Or Become a Monthly Ignitor and make a lasting difference today, tomorrow, and into the future. Recurring gifts demonstrate an enduring commitment to Camp Fire’s mission. And they help us plan, prepare, and nimbly respond to emerging needs.
Make a one-time donation of $25, $50, $100 or any amount that’s right for your family. Every gift matters and fuels our mission to inspire and enable youth of all backgrounds and abilities to discover their spark, value the natural world, and become tomorrow’s leaders, today.
No matter how you choose to support Camp Fire during the final weeks of this challenging year, please know how much we appreciate you and your family.
Thank you for caring about Camp Fire as much as we care about you.
Rick Taylor
Executive Director