CAMP CORRAL

The mission of Camp Corral is to transform the lives of children of wounded, ill, and fallen military heroes by providing camp, advocacy, and enrichment programs.

At Camp Corral, we start with the child to serve the wounded warrior and family. In addition, we focus on paying tribute to the sacrifices of military children by seeking to understand their needs, and by offering intentional life tools to empower strong, resilient, and independent individuals.

Camp Corral is a national non-profit organization that focuses on offering therapeutic recreational programs and holistic services designed specifically to empower America’s most vulnerable military children and their families.

Camp Corral is a national leader and provider of educational resources, research, and advocacy related to the mental health concerns and very real hardships faced by children of wounded, ill, and fallen military service members, many of whom provide caregiving duties within the wounded warrior family unit.

All camp sessions are provided free of charge to children ages 8 – 15 and offer a truly diverse group of military-connected youth and their families a chance to form connections with others who share similar experiences.

Camp Corral programs provide meaningful opportunities for healing, growing, and re-energizing a weary heart for thousands of children representing every state in the nation. The children who participate in Camp Corral programs experience adventure, test their limits, challenge their fears, celebrate their accomplishments, and make life-affirming friendships that assure them they are not alone.

In addition to traditional week-long summer camp programs, Camp Corral offers enrichment programs including art therapeutic sessions, learning workshops, pen pal programming, peer-network groups, and other engaging activities. Most of these programs are offered virtually for convenience to attendees. These programs reinforce already established support systems and help build new peer connections, while also offering opportunities for respite activities and the bolstering of confidence and coping skills.

Our Family Camp Retreats offer wounded warrior families an opportunity to enhance their individual and family resilience as they respite, reconnect, and strengthen the bonds of their unity in an emotionally safe environment free from the daily stressors of their lives.

Beginning in the summer of 2020, Camp Corral embarked upon a strategic planning process to refresh its vision, mission, and core values, along with future priorities, strategies, and success metrics. The focus of this process has been on how to Shape the Future, especially in the light of the very disruptive global pandemic in 2020 and 2021. The process involved includes inputs from key stakeholder groups, including Camp Corral team members, board of directors, operating partners, wounded warrior families, as well as corporate and individual donors. The outcome of this process was to build an Agile Strategy Map to serve as the strategic roadmap for the next 3-5 years.

The next step in the strategic development process was to conduct a similar self-assessment with the board of directors to examine what changes or pivots might be necessary to help the board evolve to support the stated Camp Corral Strategy Map direction. As such, the board participated in a customized self-assessment survey to rate board effectiveness in ten areas of board responsibility. Additionally, board members identified the priority areas for board development and specific changes needed to operate more effectively. Their input to the Camp Corral Strategy Map will help reshape areas of board involvement and engagement, ensuring total alignment with board, staff, and those we serve.

The primary areas of strategic focus are mission critical projects: Refine and Grow the Brand, Elevate Impact, Grow Research and Advocacy, Build Sustainable Support, and Strive for Operational Standards of Excellence.

Having provided more than 30,000 children with summer camp and year-round resilience program experiences since 2011, we are uniquely positioned to understand and champion for the needs of our the children and families of our nation's wounded, ill, and fallen military service members.

We seek to gain deeper insight into the needs of our veteran and active military families so we can provide relevant services, drive innovative thinking, and amplify the voices of our military community. We do that through expanding our staffing efforts, education, and expertise and by aligning with community partners. The staff and board of Camp Corral are dedicated to collaborative partnerships to enhance the potential impact of programs and to strengthen services for military-connected families.

This coming year we anticipate serving more than 4,000 military-connected children, and more than 500 wounded warrior family members. To amplify our resources for research, data, and program evaluation, we have formed partnerships with several educational and research organizations, as well as state university researchers who focus upon child caregiving, recreational and art therapy, post-traumatic stress, traumatic brain injuries, exceptional family member, neuro-diversity, and physical diversity supports.

Over 30,000 military-connected children from every state in the nation have been supported through Camp Corral programs. The team at Camp Corral maintains communication with these families year-round, providing timely resources, information on upcoming programs, and other opportunities. Throughout the year Camp Corral provides holistic programs such as resource webinars, virtual therapeutic art classes, and peer support groups to build upon the experiences and lessons received at summer camp. Families often share that Camp Corral is the only service organization to which they are connected and that it is their main source of support and access to resources as challenges arise for their families.

Each Camp Corral program is uniquely tailored to address the areas that have been identified as most common needs for military children and their families, including peer connections and support systems, respite opportunities, confidence-building, and coping skills.