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#Post#: 6858--------------------------------------------------
Re: Camp Jackson
By: Jack Date: July 3, 2018, 4:20 am
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[quote author=Leti link=topic=623.msg6842#msg6842
date=1530588281]
I know that you have been busy with Imaginarium, Wedding and
returning campers, but, do you have more plans for the camp?
[/quote]
I doubt anything will get done in the next month or two. Right
now, my people at the Huff Foundation are applying for grants
and looking for donations. Ryan came over one evening, and we
played around with some ideas of how we can lay things out, but
until we have an idea of how much money we have to spend, I
don't want to get too many ideas fixed in my head.
#Post#: 12387--------------------------------------------------
Re: Camp Jackson
By: Jack Date: April 12, 2019, 5:00 pm
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I wanted to mention that Camp Jackson is nearly up and running.
They're putting the final touches on the pools next week, and
then there will be a couple of buildings and some landscaping to
finish once that's done.
I'm honestly not involved in the day to day operations. Camp
Jackson is still part of the Huff Foundation, so the overall
operation is handled by the admin staff I already had in place.
We did hire a new person there to help, whose main
responsibility is in handling the outreach, advertising, and
applications. We also hired a head councilor. That person just
happens to be a teacher I've known for quite a while, who has
been doing this for a long time, and is happy to have a job
closer to home than he's been.
I have actually been approached by a number of (more or less)
local colleges hoping to have some of their students intern with
us. As a reminder, Camp Jackson is going to work primarily with
kids who have ADHD or similar learning disabilities, which might
cause problems with them getting along with their cognitively
average peers. We will be accepting some 'normal' campers who
just have monetary issues attending a regular camp. I believe
we're nearly full up now - certainly for the first few sessions
- but I'm not sure how the balance has worked out. The point
is, because we're working with kids who have learning
disabilities, but not special physical needs, we've had a lot of
requests to place college students who are studying special
education, but also some therapists, social workers, and a few
who were more general.
Since I AM in charge of the Huff Foundation, I made two decrees.
First, we accepted no interns. We're not paying a huge amount,
but everyone who is working there full time will be paid for
their effort. Secondly, foster children are prioritized, and
anyone who doesn't have a permanent family is an auto-hire, as
long as they qualify.
I'm planning to go out to the camp and see how things are going
tomorrow. I really wish I'd had time to be more hands on
through the process, but what I did do was a lot of fun.
#Post#: 12389--------------------------------------------------
Re: Camp Jackson
By: Zyngaru Date: April 12, 2019, 5:31 pm
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[quote]Secondly, foster children are prioritized, and anyone who
doesn't have a permanent family is an auto-hire, as long as they
qualify.[/quote]
I'm a little confused with this one? Are we talking about staff
positions? I am assuming we are talking about older foster
kids, ages about 16 and 17? Under those ages and they would be
attending as a camper and over those ages, they are no longer
Foster Kids?
When I was a summer camp counselor, boys up to age 15 were
campers but we could have boys over 15 as Junior Cabin
Counselors. I actually availed myself on this once. I had the
boy as a camper one summer and took him back with me the next
summer as a junior counselor. He worked out great. Because of
the shortage of councilors, they moved him from my cabin and put
him in one where the counselor taught activities, so this boy
had control of the campers all day. He was really good with
them, although they did give him young boys and not teens.
#Post#: 12390--------------------------------------------------
Re: Camp Jackson
By: kalico Date: April 12, 2019, 6:03 pm
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That’s amazing that it’s almost ready and booked......
Good luck and I hope all goes well....
Your amazing 😉 jack with all the things you do for kids
and in general
Hugs kal
#Post#: 12401--------------------------------------------------
Re: Camp Jackson
By: Jack Date: April 13, 2019, 9:17 am
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[quote author=Zyngaru link=topic=623.msg12389#msg12389
date=1555108283]
[quote]Secondly, foster children are prioritized, and anyone who
doesn't have a permanent family is an auto-hire, as long as they
qualify.[/quote]
I'm a little confused with this one? Are we talking about staff
positions? I am assuming we are talking about older foster
kids, ages about 16 and 17? Under those ages and they would be
attending as a camper and over those ages, they are no longer
Foster Kids?
[/quote]
I suppose I should have said 'former foster kids', but that's
not how I think of them. For reference, over 1,000 kids 'age
out' of the foster care system in Texas every year.
If you'd like to know more, here's an informative (but
disheartening) article I'd recommend
HTML https://www.sacurrent.com/the-daily/archives/2017/01/17/how-texas-overburdened-foster-care-system-has-produced-a-generation-of-lost-adults
#Post#: 12405--------------------------------------------------
Re: Camp Jackson
By: Zyngaru Date: April 13, 2019, 10:07 am
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Thanks Jack for that explanation. It makes perfect sense.
Foster Care has a lot of problems but one of the worst is when
it drops kids to fend for themselves without any help, when they
age out.
My sister Fostered for a number of years. She ended up adopting
one of the girls she was fostering.
I have a Nephew who is Fostering to adopt. He has already
adopted one and is getting closer to being able to adopt
another. His sister has just started Fostering and is hoping to
adopt the girl she is fostering, and as of now, things are
looking good for that to happen.
So the whole program of Fostering isn't a bust. It can work.
But it does have it's problems that need to be addressed and
worked out.
Oh! And Spanking is not allowed when Fostering! :o :o :o
#Post#: 15218--------------------------------------------------
Re: Camp Jackson
By: Jack Date: September 26, 2019, 9:37 am
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Zyngaru had asked about the camp, now that summer has ended.
We will NOT be running any type of camp at this time. For one
thing, almost all of our workers are college students who have
gone back to their own educations for now.
What the camp WILL be doing in the off period is renting out
it's facilities. BCA is holding some day camps there for
various purposes. We have some church groups using it for
weekend retreats. We have businesses using it for retreats and
team building exercises. We also have other groups using it for
similar reasons.
With the camp itself, we almost broke even this past summer,
with the number of people who were able to pay some or all of
their costs (and a bit extra) and donations covering the number
of scholarships we gave. We are starting out with a pretty good
endowment and no debt. What we're hoping is that renting the
camp for other purposes during the school year will generate
enough to cover operating expenses the next summer.
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