Send Kids in Foster Care to Camp Horizon Programs

Now that it's officially Summer, our annual Summer Camp program is just around the corner! We're excited and have kids ready to go and on our waiting list!  However, we're still seeking MALE mentors to volunteer this summer. If you or anyone you know is 18+ and potentially interested in having a great week mentoring a little boy aged 8-11 at Summer Camp, please let us know!  We're still short 5 counselors.  Because of our mentoring match, each child is paired with ONE adult.  We don't want to turn any boys away, so please help, if you can!

Please direct all Summer Camp inquiries to Lea Levine, our Program Director:  Lea.Levine@camphorizon.net

We've had a lot going on recently, and in early June partnered with Deloitte for the second year in a row for their annual employee volunteer Impact Day, where non-profits are chosen and employee time is donated to certain projects.  My goals while in this role include overhauling our accounting and finance systems, and we made excellent progress in that direction! Our website conversion is well underway and should be launching in the next couple of weeks, in its first "phase."  Our plans include being more interactive online and to better show what we're doing behind the scenes, while also discussing some interesting topics in our new blog posts. Stay tuned!

We also recently held our 3rd "Dine-Out" with Fifth Group Restaurants at their upscale Mexican restaurant Alma Cocina. Always a great excuse to get out to dine for a cause, as it costs nothing extra while you eat delicious food.  We promote the dine-outs on Facebook, but with our new website we aim to be more vocal across several channels.  

The few weeks before Summer Camp can start to feel like a blur, with all the prep that needs to happen. But I'm looking forward to one full week of being unplugged and focused on one little girl to prove to her that she's important and that she has value for being exactly who she is.  It's the best week of my year! 

While we are at Summer Camp this year, we'll also be participating in Global Giving's Thired Matching/Bonus Day fundraiser on July 16th.  So keep a look out for those reminder emails, as any donation on that day up to $1,000 will be matched at 30%, until funds run out.  

Enjoy your long Summer Days, and thank you for supporting Camp Horizon! 

Links:

• Check Out Our Reviews on Great Non Profits!

Thanks to YOU, Camp Horizon is excited to announce our first expansion project underway for July 12-18, 2014! We will be hosting 52 campers (and mentors) this summer, nearly double our typical Summer Camp week!  We have BIG changes in store! 

If you donated early in our campaign, our video wasn't even completed yet, so we'd like to share it again now. It's difficult to convey the complexity of what we do at Summer Camp in only four minutes, but somehow video really can be more powerful than words, especially when it comes to watching body language.  For children who have been abused and traumatized, trust is a challenging concept. However, our campers learn quickly that they can trust at Camp Horizon, and our mentors are always there to support them.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SOcpAYof7c

Because we were able to meet most of our fundraising goal, with other revenue streams in combination with Global Giving, we were able to put most of our goals into action!  For the first time in 32 years, we now have a full-time Program Director who will be able to dedicate the necessary time to overseeing all of our programs and coordinating with partner organizations in a much more seamless and coordinated fashion. Our Executive Director position was also recently upgraded to full time, thus creating a more sustainable organization for the future. 

I am eager to see Camp Horizon cross over into our next chapter, with growth, sustainability and proactive planning. Because I love this organization, the mission, our children involved and our people, I am for the second year in a row, volunteering my time pro bono to help make it happen. I couldn't do this alone, however, and I am entirely grateful for your support in helping us to make this transition! 

Behind the scenes, we are working to strengthen our relationship with the Department of Family & Children Services, reach out to new private foster care placing agencies, collaborate with other partnering organizations to bring increased services to our kids, improve our financial and performance reporting, and even more.  

This is going to be a very productive year in 2014! I hope you'll stick with us and watch what happens!  I'm looking forward to keeping you updated. 

THANK YOU, from metro Atlanta!