CAMP FOR ALL WINS NATIONAL AWARD

  

Camp For All, a barrier free camp in Washington County, recently won a prestigious award at the 2017 American Camp Association National Conference.

The Camp For All 2U Program was presented the Eleanor P. Eells Award during the conference this week in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The Camp For All 2U outreach program provides inclusive, week-long camp experiences, indoors and in town, for campers who can’t physically come to the camp site.

Activities include canoeing, archery, s’mores, arts and crafts and so much more. The program takes place in hospitals in the Texas Medical Center, as well as at Bo’s Place, a bereavement center, in Houston. Additionally, the program has a partnership with Dell Children’s Hospital in Austin. Camp For All brings the “can-do” spirit of Camp to kids who go back to their hospital rooms that evening getting to tell their loved ones that they went to camp.

The Eleanor P. Eells Award for Program Excellence is designed to “honor programs that develop effective, creative responses to the needs of people and/or societal problems using the camp environment or programs which demonstrate the positive contributions the camp experience has on the well-being of individuals and society.”

Camp For All was selected amongst a final group of six nominees by the National Awards Committee and the Committee for the Advancement of Research and Evaluation (CARE) as a collaborative initiative.

President and CEO Pat Prior Sorrells, in response to Camp For All 2U being selected as the award recipient, said, “This program enables children in the hospital to get back into life.  This award underscores the importance of our mission.”

The honor comes just in time to kick off Camp For All 2U for 2017. Volunteer dates and opportunities can be found on the Camp For All website at campforall.org.