This past August, I was given an amazing opportunity to volunteer for a little camp called CAMP!. When I first signed up to do it, I originally thought about how good it was going to look on my resume when I applied to graduate school. I learned about this opportunity through my cheerleading coaches at home. As the summer went on the experience became less about my educational future and more about the kids I would be helping.

CAMP! is exactly like every other summer camp out there, with one small exception. Most of the kids that go there are kids can otherwise not afford to go to those camps. For these kids, being able to escape their homes for a week is a calming luxury. The summer is the one time that they know that they will have 3 square meals a day, people they can rely on, and know exactly where they will sleep. As the day that I was leaving approached, I started to become nervous about whether or not I could actually be what these kids needed. I was only going to be a lifeguard, but I had to teach swim lessons and I even ended up doing a group activity and met with certain kids every day. Either way, I was going to be getting close to kids with or without wanting to.

During the week, I got really close to a few of the groups and kids that I taught. By the end of the week, I was actually sad that I was going to have to say goodbye to those kids as well as the kids I didn't get the chance to meet.

Since CAMP! is completely volunteer based and not much money is made from the kids, whose parents pay about $25, most of the money to run the camp comes from outside fundraising. Both of my coaches sit on the board for the camp, never stop fundraising efforts. The day after CAMP! ends, both of them start planning different ideas for fundraising. Sometimes, my cheer team is even part of fundraising. In the past, we would do a team bonding night and would go bowling. Before the actual night, we would collect sponsorships from people. These sponsorships basically said that for every pin we knocked down, the sponsor would donate from $0.01 to whatever dollar amount they wanted. Recently, some local groups in Vermont have also decided to donate to the CAMP! efforts. One of these is Spookyville. Last year they donated over $2,000.00 to CAMP!. This year they were hoping to donate more! These fundraising endeavors are what pay for the rest of a campers stay and ultimately determine how many campers can attend CAMP! for the upcoming year.

To me, volunteering just started as a way for me to get some volunteer experience for graduate school. Later it turned into one of the best experiences of my life! I feel that everyone, rich or not, should physically volunteer for something. Volunteering for CAMP! is something that I hope to keep doing for a long time! I hope this encourages you to volunteer too!