Photos from our Directors

Here's a little variety of photos posted by our Directors.

Camp Visits This Summer

My August newsletter had several camp stories, here are some photos from the summer.

Had to hop on this big fella while in Texas for the Christian Alliance for Orphans, (CAFO).

Booth set up at CAFO trying to recruit churches and I had the chance to do a 90-minute workshop about "telling your message in 3 minutes or less."

Great times riding in the sidecar at one of our camps this summer.

Training at one of our local camps in Rodando Beach CA.

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Family shot at a friends wedding.  To some of you it may appear that Jonathan is taller than me, clearly, it's just that I'm standing on the low side of the floor.  Some days I feel like I'm standing on the lower side of the hemisphere.

Camp Team from Springfield MO.

Welcome to CAMP!!!


Brea Campers get to make a specific appointment to visit Grandma and Grandpa.  Camp Grandparents have added a great family feel to Camp and Mentoring Club.  Many kids are not around their Grandparents so they have lost that feeling of what it means to have that older couple come along beside them and give them some extra attention.

Family visit to see Janae in action as she volunteers for the first time at the Mission Viejo camp.  Go Janae!!!

From the Ventura Camp

Counselor's meeting at Ventura's camp

Santa Barbara campBirthdayy cupcakes and Jesus Rock

Camp visits are not just for photo opportunities.   We use camp visits for three main reasons:

1. We always learn something about the local camp, about their successes, or their struggles. 
2. We can find better ways we can help if we are there and discover what they need.  
3. We stay connected to what RFK is really all about. It's easy for those of us in the office to begin to think that all the emails, and accounting, and meetings and phone calls are what RFK is about.  Those things may be a lot of our world in the national office, but the real world of RFK is out at a Camp or a Mentoring Club where the kids and the volunteers are.  We need to stay connected to what really makes RFK what it is.  

Christian Camp and Conferences Association (CCCA)

I had the opportunity to do a 1 hour Webinar on understanding children from hard places for the CCCA.  They have hundreds of members who operate Christian Camps each summer and many have Foster children attend their camps.  We put together a webinar to help their members have some better tools for understanding foster children and their unique needs. 

Oregon Camp Property???

Story - Lace-up Shoes

Beautiful Bellingham

Camp #7 Hosted by Hillcrest Chapel in Bellingham WA. will host its 25th year of camp this summer.  I was invited to their fundraiser golf tournament to speak and help raise awareness and dollars.

It was a great time for me to connect with one of our stronger camps that has had a great connection with their community and with a National presence.

On this trip I was able to not only do the fundraiser golf tournament, but while there we also recorded a radio spot for their Drive By Giving event, I connected with two of our National Trainers, toured the camp facility as a potential training location in the future and met with the Pastor staff to thank them for their years of hosting RFK in their community.

Eddie Mack from Cruisin Coffee does a "Drive By Giving" fundraiser each year where people literally just drive by the Cruisin Coffee locations and drop off donations for camp. 

 Recording radio commercial with "Dave and Mandy in the Morning" on KAFE 104.1 FM

Radio commercial on KAFE 104.1  My spot and a caller who has sent kids to the Bellingham camp.

Visiting the Firs campground.

A local Camp supporter donated my stay at the Moondance Inn.  Nice place right on Lake Walcom.  Me at the end of the pier taking the following shots.

 Self-portrait / Shadow portrait

 Thursday morning was absolutely calm on the lake.  Still and quiet!

 Friday morning was a bit chopping, but the sun rays danced of the waves.

LIFT Conferences 2018

We held another round of our LIFT Conferences this past March. 
For 4 weekends in a row, we held an all day training session for leaders and volunteers of our Camps and Mentoring Clubs.

It's a ton of work and requires tremendous hours by the national office and local volunteers who desire to gather together and learn and mutually encourage each other.

This year, Wayne Tesch, Founder of Royal Family, brought the devotional thought "Elevating Moments to Memories. 

We had about 600 volunteers at the four locations attending the general sessions and numerous breakout sessions.

A blessed time for us so we can all get better at helping Foster Children get better too.

From foster care to the Olympics

Simone Biles:

I went from foster care to the Olympics

By Simone Biles

Updated 12:52 PM ET, Wed February 7, 2018

 

People love to ask: "What's your secret?" …they want to know how I went from foster care to the Olympics.

My answer to both is the same: a mix of talent, hard work and grabbing the right opportunity when given the chance.

I was blessed to have both a gift and the chance to develop it. But many people aren't so lucky.

Did you know that in the United States there are nearly 400,000 children and youth in foster care? In my mind, those are 400,000 talents waiting to be discovered.

 At RFK, we are doing our part to help Foster children have some opportunities that they may not have had otherwise.

See full article: 

https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/05/opinions/foster-care-education-olympics-opinion-biles/index.html