CAMP TWIN LAKES INC

Camp is more than a fun week in the summer and more than a physical location. Our programs have one purpose: to ensure that these vulnerable populations have empowering, transformative camp experiences each year with their peers who face similar illnesses, disabilities, or challenges. Camp provides opportunities to children and teens with serious illnesses, disabilities, and life challenges to improve their wellness, build community and a sense of belonging, discover self-acceptance, and grow their self-efficacy.

For the children we serve, their medical diagnosis, physical or developmental disability, or life challenge means that isolation, powerlessness, disappointment, and a lack of socialization are daily themes. They are also often precluded from participating in traditional educational or youth development programs because of their special medical or physical needs. Furthermore, the social distancing that is necessary to contain the global situation we are facing only compounds these challenges. CTL programs provide year-round opportunities for these fragile populations to build lasting relationships with peers facing the same medical diagnosis or life challenge, be physically active and engage in creative free play that builds critical thinking skills, and practice problem solving in a fun and supportive environment. For example, children with mobility issues and in wheelchairs still can engage with our nature-based STEAM lessons on our 120-acre farm because our programming gardens and greenhouses are wheelchair accessible. We also teach older campers how to transition from pediatric to adult care, giving them the tools they need to live as independently as possible.

This focus on wellness and youth development is critical now more than ever for the children and teens we serve. Already facing limited access to such experiences, our campers and their families rely on Camp Twin Lakes to provide opportunities for them that meet their medical and developmental needs, while being financially accessible.

To serve our campers and their families, Camp Twin Lakes’ current strategic plan (2019-2023) focuses on four main elements:

GROW WITH EXISTING & NEW PARTNERS: Camp Twin Lakes strives to meet the capacity needs of our Camp Partners each year, as well as serve new partners and populations. However, demand for our programs has continually increased since our inception and our current campsites are at capacity. As part of our current strategic plan, we have broken ground on a third year-round campsite on existing Camp land in Rutledge, Georgia. This will allow us to increase capacity by 33% and serve 3,500 more campers every year through year-round programs. These new campers will come from within the diagnoses and populations we already serve, alleviating existing Camp Partner waitlists, and from within new groups and Partners, such as vulnerable teen populations and youth with non-acute mental health disorders.

DEEPEN PROGRAM EXPERIENCES: We will develop and implement programs to reach and retain vulnerable teen populations and youth with non-acute mental health disorders. We will also expand key program elements like our therapeutic equestrian program and our hospital-based Camp-To-Go program. Finally, our new campsite will allow us to expand our weekend programming, increasing camper touchpoints and providing opportunities for families to take part in their child’s growth and development.

MEASURE OUR IMPACT: We will measure the impact of our programming using a revitalized outcomes framework and camper surveys developed by our Project Manager of Research & Outcomes in conjunction with national American Camp Association (ACA) leadership and CTL program staff. Our campers face daily challenges of isolation, lack of self-esteem, and lack of wellness opportunities. Through our programs, campers will build a sense of belonging to a community, self-efficacy, and actively engage in activities designed to improve their wellness. Our surveys will measure camper growth in important youth development areas of wellness, self-acceptance, belonging, and self-efficacy. This year we will gather baseline data in order to set outcomes goals

ENHANCE OUR BRAND: As our programs grow and their impact deepens, so does the need for revitalized messaging and branding. To continue supporting our missional goals, we must also continue evolving our stakeholders’ understanding of the impact of Camp, including that Camp is more than a location and fun week during the summer. Enhancing our brand will allow us to highlight the value that Camp families, partners, and donors receive from the Camp Twin Lakes experience.

Camp Twin Lakes has a strong track record for establishing and effecting programs of excellence. In all facets of our organization, we strive for cooperation and collaboration which enables us to maximize resources and expertise through our partnerships, share best practices, and to minimize duplication of programs and efforts. We have nearly 30 years of experience in the camping industry serving youth with a wide range of special healthcare needs and life challenges. This strengthens our capability for meeting the diverse needs of the nearly 10,000 children and adults we serve each year.

An integral part of this is our partnership model. We work closely with more than 60 nonprofit Camp Partner organizations across Georgia to make our programming possible; these organizations each serve a different diagnosis and together we create customized programs that teach campers to overcome obstacles and grow in confidence and capabilities. We intentionally collaborate with our Partners in all programming, including week-long summer camps, weekend family retreats in the fall and spring, teen transition weekends, hospital-based Camps to Go programs, camper leadership programs and Partner Institute meetings. We provide the medically supported locations, highly trained camp staff, American Camp Association (ACA) accreditation, camper and volunteer meals, and all adaptive camp programming, equipment, and supplies. Our Camp Partners recruit campers and volunteers (including medical staff and cabin counselors) from within their own specializations and diagnoses. This collaborative business model also divides the cost of camp with our Camp Partners to make camp more accessible to more children with unique healthcare needs and life challenges: We cover 70% of the cost through our Camper Scholarship Program, and our partners are responsible for the remaining 30%.

Camp leadership also ensures our capability to meet our goals: we are proud to have a diverse Board with respect to professional and personal strengths, gender, and race. Our Board is committed, engaged and well-informed about the work and goals of the organization. Full-time staff are led by Camp Directors and Managers, a Dietary Coordinator, a Medical Director, and a Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist. Our Program Staff hold degrees and are certified in a variety of pediatric support services, including therapeutic recreation, early childhood education, child life, nursing, and nutrition. Our program staff are also trained in group facilitation and child development.

At Camp Twin Lakes, we strive to meet the unique needs of the diverse populations and diagnoses we serve. We traditionally serve nearly 10,000 children and adults each year through our year-round programming, each of whom is provided with a 70% scholarship through our Camper Scholarship Program. Over the past five years, we have also identified and created programming for four new diagnoses and added nine new Camp Partners to better serve children with illnesses and disabilities.

Our campers face daily challenges of isolation, lack of self-esteem, and lack of wellness opportunities. Through our programs, campers build a sense of belonging to a community, self-efficacy, and actively engage in activities designed to improve their wellness. Our Summer 2021 surveys show that, because of their time at Camp,
• 76% of campers grew in their wellness
• 78% grew in their sense of belonging to a community
• 88% grew in their self-acceptance
• 80% grew in their self-efficacy (confidence in their skills and abilities)

Additionally, we maintain our accreditation through the ACA. To maintain this, our campsites go through rigorous annual evaluations with continually updated standards and guidelines, including an annual site visit by ACA standards staff, with the visit scored based on standards compliance observed at the time.

Finally, we are proud to have provided financial assistance to 100% of our campers since our inception. We fundraise each year to provide scholarships through our Camper Scholarship Program to each and every camper. Because of the strong support of our community, we have continued to subsidize the cost of Camp for every camper throughout the pandemic.