Changing Seasons
We just completed our 7th season of mentoring club and it is time to fully switch gears to camp mode. This changing of the seasons seems like a good time to explain the way Royal Family KIDS operates. Our ministry is made up of two programs that compliment each other so well.
The first program is a week long summer camp for children who have experienced abuse, abandonment, or neglect. Our camp serves children between the ages of 6 and 11 who either are or previously have been in the foster care system. Camp is intentionally designed to provide a week of fun and success for kids from hard places. We take care to make sure our camper to counselor ratio provides the right support to ensure our campers have the best week possible. Unlike traditional summer camps, each counselor at RFK camp is responsible for two campers. This allows them to invest a lot of attention and form a healing bond with each of their campers. We provide fun camp activities that allow our campers to try new things, find new passions, and have fun childhood experiences they may have missed. Camp is a safe and fun place where the cares of life seem to slip out of mind. The camp bubble allows us to break through barriers and form impactful connections with our campers. These 100 hours of camp lay the foundation of positive relationships and trust.
The second half of our ministry is an eight month mentoring program that starts each fall. During the school year RFK provides monthly support and fun for the kids in our program. We leverage the relationships built at camp to continue the healing of positive relationships during our mentoring program. Each camper that comes to club has a mentor that is with them for the duration of the mentoring program. They continue to bond as our group partakes in fun activities and outings in our community. I love the Josh Shipp quote, “Every kid Is ONE caring adult away from being a success story.”
During this last mentoring season we supported kids and families as two sisters we reunified with bio-parents, one girl walked through an pre-adoptive placement and subsequent placement disruption, a young boy was reunified with his bio-mom, and a girl moved to a new placement after a failed adoptive placement and was separated from a bio-sibling. We celebrated with kids who caught up multiple grade levels this year, kids who joined athletic teams for the first time, and several kids who mastered reading. We encouraged foster parents, kinship parents, and bio-parents as they navigated the highs and lows of the year. We pointed out the best in their children and provided them with a little respite each month as we took their littles for fun adventures. Our mentors and support staff pour their time, energy, and resources into the kids in our program because we believe that, "a relationship trauma can only be healed in relationships” Karen Purvis.
As I reflect on the past eight months of mentoring I am grateful and honored by the volunteers who showed up faithfully each month. I am amazed at the growth we witnessed in each of our kiddos including behavior changes, new skills, academic success, and maturity. I am proud of the guardians who work so tirelessly to care for, support, and love the kids in our program. And I am humbled to be part of such an amazing community of people who care for kids from hard places.
