Changing Lives, One Week at a Time

Faith-Based Camp

Owen Chism of Temple, Ga., first attended Deer Run Camp in 2013. Andy and Janice Chism worried that Owen, then 8, also was too young.

“We did a lot of research before we even thought about taking him to Deer Run,” Janice says. “We couldn’t find one negative comment anywhere. He made memories he’ll never forget that year,” Janice says. “He grew so much, he became so much more confident about himself – it really did change his life. He would never be the person he is today without that camp.”

Owen, who his mom describes as a somewhat “geeky” boy loves building with Legos and playing Minecraft. At camp, he made friends who shared some of his interests, but instead of playing Minecraft they were riding horses, rappelling down 30 feet, doing a “Faith Jump”, making boats out of cardboard, using wood-burning tools and more.

A camp counselor gave Owen a new perspective on himself – not as a boy who’s a bit different and doesn’t excel in athletics, but as “one of the coolest guys at camp,” his mom says.

The Chisms, members of the Covenant Life Church of God in Bremen, love that the nondenominational camp has a lesson in faith attached to most of the activities, and devotionals each evening.

Specialty Camp

Some kids make summer camp friends while hiking and swimming, but at iD Tech they get to know each other while learning about robotics or honing computer science skills such as coding, developing apps or designing websites. The camps are at locations throughout the United States, including Emory University, Georgia Tech and Fulton Science Academy in Alpharetta.

Marshall Cain of Buckhead is becoming a pro at this stuff, attending two weeks of day camps starting at age 8, then committing to a week of overnight camp last summer. He’s already signed up to learn 3-D gaming this summer at overnight camp.

His parents, John and Rachel Cain, see it as an activity he loves and good training for their aspiring game designer. “A friend of ours who is a senior engineer at a major gaming company in Seattle believes every child should be learning to write code,” Rachel says. iD Tech makes it fun. “It’s a sneaky way to get them hooked into programming and code writing,” she says. Marshall is building on his skills each year.

Far-Away Camp

Mary Ella and Charlie Rinzler have been attending French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts in Hancock, NY for three years.

They had camp experience at a smaller camp in North Carolina before attending French Woods. When it came to choosing, they watched the promotional DVD and thought they were considering it for Charlie only. At the end of the video Mary Ella said, “Mom it’s not camp, it’s paradise!”  There wasn’t much discussion after that.

As far as some of the benefits of a camp outside of the south, Leanna believes the environment provides a safe place to take risk and grow through experience-based learning. “They offer a new geographical area with friends and counselors from different states and countries,” Leanna says. “There is a pleasant temperature change for us in the south so the climate is desirable.”