Camp ASCCA has been known to leave an imprint on our campers, staff, families, and many others. That is also the case for Charlie and his family.
Charlie is 11 years old and in the fifth grade. He was assigned a Capstone project where he had to come up with a passion project, create a community impact, and present it to his class. Charlie and his mom were brainstorming ideas around the same time that a family member of theirs, Matt Mahan, a former ASCCA camper, passed away. Matt’s father had written in his obituary, “In lieu of flowers, donations should be made to Camp ASCCA, where Matt looked forward to spending a week of the summer for over 20 years.”
Charlie’s mom showed him the website, and they agreed it would be incredibly meaningful to raise money for Camp ASCCA in honor of Matt. This idea piqued Charlie’s interest because he also attends summer camp every year. For Charlie, it is one of his favorite times of the year. It was special to find something that he and Matt had in common, even though they never had the chance to get to know each other.
In keeping with a camp theme, they hosted “Camp Charlie” for his friends in his class. They invited his classmates to their neighborhood to participate in several camp activities. The activities included archery, mini rock climbing, remote-control kayak races, an obstacle course, and bracelet making. Charlie’s sister and grandmother (Matt’s aunt) also baked brownies, chocolate-covered marshmallows, and cookies for a bake sale.
They asked classmates to make a $5 donation in order to participate in Camp Charlie, hoping to raise around $250. In the end, they had around 38 participants and raised $1,800. Charlie and his mom were blown away by the generosity of the families who participated.
Charlie gave a speech at the beginning and talked about Matt while sharing information about Camp ASCCA. He also made a poster board with information and a link for families to donate. During his speech, Charlie talked about how Camp ASCCA never turns a camper away due to the inability to pay. Not only did this message resonate with Charlie, but it also resonated with his classmates and their families.
Once Charlie realized he had reached $1,250, the total cost to send a camper to ASCCA for a full week, he was beyond excited. He was excited to be able to send that donation to ASCCA and thrilled to honor Matt in such an incredible way.
