Camp for 400 Kids with Autism & Medical Needs

Dear Dragonfly Supporter,

We have some exciting news to share with all of you about the growth of Dragonfly Forest. Our team has taken great pride in serving kids with autism and medical needs for many years and with your support, we have had a tremendous impact on our community. As the demand for this type of program continued to grow, the Dragonfly Forest Board of Directors reached out to the Philadelphia Freedom Valley YMCA for help in expanding and sustaining the program.

As you may know, last year our Dragonfly Forest campers enjoyed 1,100 acres of beautiful camp grounds at the Camp Speers YMCA, the outdoor overnight camp for the Philadelphia Freedom Valley YMCA. This year, Dragonfly Forest will run at Camp Speers as part of their Y camp offerings. This new arrangement allows Dragonfly and the Y to serve more campers, Y members, participants and the community.

Dragonfly Forest and the Y remain committed to helping kids in need participate in camp. As the program continues to grow, we recognize that many more families will be interested in scholarships this summer. The Y does not turn anyone away because of an inability to pay, and we will continue to work with our supporters to ensure that financial assistance is available to all those in need.

The Dragonfly Forest and Camp Speers Y teams are incredibly excited about the new opportunities available for children and their families. We look forward to your continued support and spending more summers with you at Dragonfly Forest at Camp Speers.

What does this mean for the children and teenagers we serve? The YMCA is committed to offering the same Dragonfly Forest program our families, supporters, and participants know and love. From a camper's perspective, not a lot will change. The camper-counselor relationship has been and will continue to be the most important aspect of our program. Additionally, the YMCA and Dragonfly Forest share the same commitment that no child should be turned away from a program because of a family's inability to pay. We will continue to offer a robust financial aid package. Additionally, our staff will continue to reflect our campers and create a welcoming community for children from diverse backgrounds. What will change in the long run is our capacity to expand to serve more children with autism and medical needs in the region and the United States.

What does this mean for donors? The Philadelphia Freedom Valley YMCA is managing the Dragonfly Forest program. Dragonfly Forest, Inc. continues to exist as its own 501(c)3 organization and all donations will continue to fund the same program. Thanks to the support of the YMCA, we expect our overall budget for 2017 to decrease and our capacity for how many children we can serve to increase! In fact, we have already expanded our program offerings from four weeklong sessions to six!

 

We hope you are as excited about this collaborative effort as we are! Please send any inquiries about this new partnership to mark@dragonflyforest.org.

Best regards,