Connect a child to Nature through a Week of Camp!

Salutations,

Sometimes, as educators, the hardest part of our job is spending weeks of meaningful time with a camper and after the season ends, watching them go. Sometimes we see campers year after year and sometimes they only have the opportunity to attend for a single summer. It is hard to know the impact of our programs when life is in such flux.

This year, we are fortunate enough to share a camp story where that is not the case.

In December the education team opened registration for all three sites (Durham, Orange, and Wake) as well as our registration for our teen camps and backpacking trips. After registration opened, our Durham coordinator received an email from Shannon and Sean, past camp parents.

Shannon, Sean, and their son Kyler spent the summer in the Triangle and chose Piedmont Wildlife Center (PWC) as their camp for the season. Five-year-old Kyler was developmentally delayed and had never run before he attended Piedmont. He had spent the last two years of his life living in the pandemic. Those years were rough on everyone, but especially children, who didn't get a lot of experience with people outside of their families. 

Throughout the summer, our camp staff and Kyler's parents watched as Kyler began to understand personal space, became more active, and grew more confident in himself. Shannon and Sean wrote: "Kyler learned so much at Piedmont. He learned to run and got physically fit. He learned how to make friends and have cooperative play with others. Most importantly, he had fun and consistently looked forward to camp. Kyler also had many counselors who "got" his needs. I spoke with one counselor who was autistic and said she understood Kyler's needs for quiet time because she herself needed this on occasion as well. This was really affirming for Kyler to be around people and young adults who understood him."

As always, our summer programs could not succeed without the generous support of the PWC community. From the small, like purchasing nets that allow us to explore the creeks and streams, to the large, like our ongoing scholarship fund, every bit counts towards connecting people with nature and to a community that understands each other.

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