Camp for 400 Kids with Autism & Medical Needs

Camp is clearly really fun, but is that really a high priority?

We think so!  We believe that having fun and being happy helps our campers build confidence.  We believe that happy kids are more successful, and more available for learning the social lessons we hope to impart at camp.  

What do Campers Learn at Camp?

Every year, we survey our campers and their parents to see if what they learn, and if we are satisfied with the outcomes of camp.  We want our campers to learn social lessons in our environment.  We want them to be better team players, better friends, and better problem solvers.  Additionally, we want them to be more responsible, and more independent. We are happy to report that our campers met or exceeded our learning goals in all categories!

We survey for the following social lessons.  

Perceived Competency - belief that they can be successful in the things they do

Interested in Exploration - be more curious, inquisitive, eager to learn new things

Teamwork - become more effective when working in groups of their peers

Independence - rely less on adults and other people for solving problems and for their day-to-day activities

Friendship - make friends and maintain relationships 

Family Citizenship - encourage attributes important to being a member of a family

Responsibility - learn to be accountable for their own actions and mistakes

Check out our attachment for the detailed results! 

• Camper Outcome Report: Exceeding Expectations (PDF)
  

This summer Dragonfly Forest served over 425 campers with Autism, 22Q Deletion, Persistent Asthma, Sickle Cell and Bleeding Disorders.   To quote one of our campers, “Dragonfly is the best week of my life!”

We heard from parents who told us “After camp my daughter was more outgoing and eager to do more activities without letting her disability hold her back.   She is enjoying herself like a normal kid would do.”

Perhaps our favorite quote overheard from a camper was “I love this place, it’s where I can get away from the everyday hustle!”

We couldn’t do this without your support, and while we crunch the final number about camp (we send you information in a few weeks), we thought you might be interested in the following numbers from camp:

• 55,424 oz. - That's how much water campers and staff drink during summer sessions. Hydration is our top priority!
• 327 - The average number of Thank You's spoken at the Web of Kindness. It's important that we express our gratitude and remember to not let this be the only time we say a kind word.
• 1,526 - The number of shirts tie dyed
• 513 - The number of baskets made in pick-up games of basketball during the summer
• 1,802 - The number of delicious s'mores eaten during summer sessions. Better stock up on marshmallows, graham crackers and chocolate!
• 22,900 - The number of rotations hula hooped in one summer at Dragonfly
• 9,451 - How high, in feet, campers climb in total on the ropes course. That's equivalent to scaling the Empire State Building...6.5 times! 
• 907 - The number of showers needed to clean up after Messy Olympics. All worth it!
• $1,650 - The average cost to send one child to camp at Dragonfly Forest. This cost is covered by donations so families can send their children here for free.
• 280 - The amount, in ounces, of face paint we use every summer at The Forest. That's enough to paint the faces of every performer on 28 Circuses!
• If you applied all the sunscreen we use at The Forest, you would get an SPF of 36,000 - that's enough to stand on the surface of the sun*, if you didn't burn up from the heat. (* = not scientifically proven.)
• At The Forest, we cover a total of 62 miles zipping on the zip line - that's the same as zipping from Philadelphia to Atlantic City, NJ!
• 365 - The number of days a year needed to fundraise for a season of camp! Making DF the best it can possibly be is on our minds year round.
• 1,295 - The number of cannonballs into the pool, the best way to cool off!
• 2,376 - The number of yards covered by campers on the slip and slide, courtesy of Messy Olympics. 
• 3,192 - Take aim! This is the number of arrows launched by campers at Archery.
• 14.67 - The hours of music we play in a summer. At DF, we play enough music to fill 15 nights at a typical night club.
• 2,175 - The number of shaving cream baseballs hit out of the park every summer at Dragonfly Forest. 
• 7,450 - The number of miles walked at camp every summer. That's more than walking coast to coast and back again! 
• 816 - The number of relaxing naps taken in the many hammocks of hammock-ville! Shhhhh, close your eyes and drift off.