By Ellen Dahlke | Grants and Funds Development Manager
As we head into our 2017 season, we take this moment to send warm thanks to our generous donor community. Your support made it possible for us to host six camps!
As you know, Camp Everytown has a long history of being a space where high school students build empathy and leadership skills, and our 2016 camps were no exception. Here's Nick's story:
"The first night alone disproved my initial beliefs, as the Prejudice activity showed how hurtful some stereotypes are to people. Not only this, though, but it was even more of an eye-opening experience to be on both sides of the stereotypes—oppressed and oppressor. As the oppressor, it hurt greatly to see that some preconceived notions that I agreed with—some that I even suggested—damaged the oppressed so dearly, how it spurred them to tears. As the oppressed, though, I truly felt the pain of a stereotype. I went outside with those that either had a disability themselves or had family with a disability—mind you, though, I went not with myself in mind, but my 21-year-old sister. I say so because, not only does she, too, have Alopecia (in fact, she was diagnosed a year before I), but she has ADD and dyslexia, atop that. After returning to the main group when they had finished with listing stereotypes about our group, and seeing claims such as “stupid”, “useless”, and “shouldn’t work”, it was difficult to bite back the tears and anger that washed over me, as she is one of the most independent people that I know, who has worked three jobs at once before, alongside going to college and taking care of a horse. Put simply, I disagreed strongly with the above statements.
Ultimately, though, undergoing this truly made me realize how harmful any given stereotype may be to aperson, having experienced said harm firsthand. I may have had a rough idea of the emotions they can inflict, but never before had I understood fully the depth the piercing capabilities that a single word can have on a person."
When you help us cover the costs of Camp Everytown, you help make our world more kind and more fair. How very important your partnership is to us and to the world!
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