Planting the Seeds of Hope, Happiness & Wholeness: 2018

How Camp for Kids in Care
Changed My Life

FOSTERING FAMILIES TODAY I NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2018 I WWW.FOSTERINGFAMILIESTODAY.COM

As a Royal Family KIDS (RFK) camper when I was young, I was the child every counselor dreamed of. I was quiet, compliant and entirely willing to just go with the flow. I did as I was told and followed my fellow campers and counselors wherever it was we needed to go.

But while I was their dream, I was living a nightmare. I was carrying the burdens of my past and had no idea what the future had in store for me or even how to begin looking at it or toward it. Earth felt and still to this day feels like a war zone between demonic and angelic forces, the good and the evil.
My very childhood was just that, a war zone. The only real peace I experienced was the three weeks — one week each summer for three years — I spent at camp.

I was a victim of evil’s identity, and I carried it around like a sack of old potatoes. For the other 51 weeks of each year, I was told that I was worthless, useless and a burden.

But all it took was one week of being told that I have significant worth. I was told I was made for great things and my name literally meant “from the woods of the royal forest.” I felt so at home at camp. All of these people at Royal Family KIDS camp took time out of their busy schedules and took a vacation for me, they introduced me to Jesus, just by reflecting His love. I saw Jesus in them. And that’s the best way to be introduced.

Since I was a kid who had undergone a lot of trauma and malfunction in my everyday life, I was finally able to just be a kid again when I entered into the world of camp. I was able to have fun and not worry about a single thing. I was living the camp dream. I was tucked under the staff ’s righteous wing and I was protected as if my life actually mattered. I was introduced to my counselor, Bekki. We shared so many teachable moments together. She told me she loved me and provided me with safe hugs and stories. She entrusted me with her testimony.

Bekki had been a camper at Royal Family KIDS just like me, and when she told me that, I knew that I too could be a staff member at camp and have tons of fun and protect kids just like all my staff did for me.

When I turned 16, I became a support staff at camp and somewhere along the way, I found my voice and since then have allowed for God to use it. When I go to camp, I am a singer and a dancer and I get up in front of the campers and I become this brave warrior who is able to bring forth healing in the lives of the children who share my story. All I had to do was reach out and ask if I could be a part of the camp that entirely changed my worldview as to what a kid was supposed to be.

I got to come back to camp in this role, and now I see the other side of camp: staff conflict, drama people drag along, and all of the stuff that as a camper, I was oblivious to. And for that, I was thankful. I learned how to healthily and prayerfully understand and handle all of the things that as a kid, I was just unable to process in a constructive way.

When I turned 18, I started to travel with a regional ambassador of Royal Family KIDS and his wife. I began to experience more healing as I shared my story and my testimony. Not only did I experience healing, but I brought healing to adults who had struggled with multiple things that I spoke about in my testimony — things like forgiveness, future camps, and self- control. Through my new voice, I spoke words of wisdom and visions of God into other adults. I get to talk truth and encouragement into other volunteers.

At the age of 22, I decided to go to RFK camp Directors Training and firsthand raise up volunteers to help heal children who have had to overcome things scarier than most people’s worst nightmares. I have had potential volunteers share their fears with me of coming to a camp and not being good enough to help these kids. I have gotten the opportunity to debrief with people over the hardship and heartbreak of letting a kid go after spending a week with them. I have been made into a warrior at camp. And because of that, I am well equipped to now make other people into warriors to serve at my camp.

I wish I could say that everything has been perfectly overcome since I was a little girl. Every day, when I feel threatened or scared or any type of attack, I feel that frightened little girl coming out. The relationships that I, as an adult, carry now constantly feel on edge. When I feel as though I am being attacked in the slightest of ways I run. I shut down. I become a little girl who has lost her voice and the ability to speak up about what is wrong. But, through strong and healthy relationships, my walls are slowly being chiseled down. I now have the honor of teaching children and volunteers about God’s identity and plan for them. I am able to do that. Who thought that a scared little girl could end up changing the lives of kids and volunteers at the very camp where it all began? ❁

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Kimberly Ann McGee goes by the name “Kimmy.” She is a former foster child and a Royal Family KIDS (RFK) camp alumni. She is an advocate
for foster children and speaks on occasion at RFK events and fundraisers. McGee is a cosmetologist who loves helping people feel beautiful inside and out. She is engaged to her fiance Eric Zwartz, who she deems a “patient and amazing man.” The wedding is slated for November 2018. For more information about RFK, visit RFK.org.