Emails of Impact

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Below are three emails we recently received from Foster / Adoptive Parents and a Camper Alumni just thanking RFK for some great experiences for their children.

As donors and prayer supporters, you are a part of every success story.

Adoptive Moms email to RFK

Sent: Thursday, October 17, 2019 9:58 PM


To: Office <Office@royalfamilykids.org>


From: Christina K**** (Email: cbk****@hotmail.com)

My son who is adopted from foster care attended his first RFK camp in June.

He LOVED it.

It was a very healing experience for him.

He keeps his special bag of treasures (toys, photos, etc) from camp at the foot of his bed. And loves to sleep wearing his camp shirt that has positive messages written by camp leaders all over it.

One gift that has been especially comforting for him is the Playaway with music… 

Thank you, Christina K****

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Foster Parent email to Camp Directors in Texas Camp #51 

From: Ryan B***** < ryanf**.b****@gmail.com>

Subject: Re: RFKC Confirmation and packing list

Date: October 17, 2019 at 8:54:15 AM CDT

To: dedwards@ourfatherschildren.org

Hi Melinda and the RFKC staff,

This e-mail is long overdue, but I just wanted to express my appreciation for everything Royal Family Kids does for foster kids. 

Our current foster child, Mikayla K****, comes from a very rough background and does not have many good experiences in her life.  But to this day she still talks about all of the fun she had at camp this past summer and can't wait to return the following year. 

My wife and I are extremely grateful for organizations like Royal Family Kids that invest time and resources into innocent kids who are enduring difficult circumstances. 

Please continue this ministry and forward our praise to other members of the leadership team.

James 1:27

Regards,

Ryan

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Camper Alumni Email

From: WordPress <wordpress@rfk.org> 


Sent: Friday, November 1, 2019


To: Office <Office@royalfamilykids.org>


Kassandra B****** (Email: b******.kassandra@gmail.com) wrote:

I’d just like to say this was the BEST TIMES of my childhood life.

This camp was so much fun and it was an escape from reality for me as a kid.

I went here when I was maybe 6 and I can to this day at 23 years old still remember the Royal Family Kids Camp song from memory and I still have the water bottle it's written on.

I’d just like to say thank you for making a difference in my life and all the rest of the children’s lives I’m positive you all have impacted!

Kassandra B.

Revealing Letters

At the end of camp, we usually ask campers if they would like to write a letter to God.  It's up to them, whatever they'd like to say.  

We also ask if they would like to tell us what they like about RFK.

Here are a few letters from our camp in Tulsa, OK.

Changing Perspectives of Children in Foster Care.

For a variety of reasons people have made negative assumptions about children who are placed in Foster care.  It’s typical for people to assume that children are removed because the child’s behaviors are out of control.  This chart, based on data from the Children’s Bureau, clearly shows that the main causes for a child to be removed is because of the parents!   

(There are usually multiple reasons why a child is removed, therefore see the note listed.)

Note: These categories are not mutually exclusive, so percentages will total

more than100% and counts will be more than the total number of entries.

Unbroken - The Louis Zamperini Story Coming To RFK

About 18 months ago we were contacted by the Louis Zamperini Foundation inquiring about any potential interest RFK might have in using the Louis Zamperini story to encourage Foster Children.

If you don't recognize the Louis Zamperini name, his incredible story has been written about in numerous books and 2 full-length movies.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Zamperini

As an amateur WW II historian, I was immediately interested in making a connection.

Well, since that first contact a lot has taken place including the unveiling of an RFK comic book movie about Louis Zamperini’s life.  See below.

Here's a quick rundown of the journey so far: 

• Chris Carmichael and I meet with Luke and Lisa Zamperini.  (Louis’ son and daughter-in-law.)

• Attorneys drafting MOU's (Memorandum of Understanding) licensing the Zamperini story to RFK in various forms.

• Camp visit summer of 2018
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• Creation of a fundraising packet for donors for this specific project
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• Talking my way into being an Extra on the set of the second movie, Unbroken, Path to Redemption.  http://unbrokenfilm.com/

• Tons of meetings, emails and phone calls.

• Finding a Director for the short movie based on the 1956 comic book about Louis Zamperini’s life.

• Voice recordings for the movie.

• Editing and more editing…

• After much work and passion, the first chapter of the comic book movie is finally complete.

This fall, our Mentoring Clubs will be able to show all 12 chapters of the movie to the children and point out teachable moments.  The Mentors can then discuss the issues with the children.

The Zamperini story brings 3 major themes of discussion to the children.

1. Louis faced many difficulties, but he learned how to overcome obstacles.

2. Louis made promises to God that he didn't keep, he was even angry at God, but eventually, he found faith and it guided the rest of his life.

3.Although Louis was abused in the war, he found peace when he offered forgiveness.

Once all 12 chapters are complete, we begin condensing this story into a 5-day drama for the Olympic theme Camp drama next year.

What an amazing ride. 

Enjoy Chapter 1 and be prepared to hear a few voices that might sound familiar.

Click on this link to view chapter one:

https://vimeo.com/355348293

Skeptic To Director

While training in Texas this summer, our new perspective Director, Rick, shared how he used to be a skeptic before joining the RFK team in Concord and then Brentwood.

I asked him if he would repeat his comments on video because we have a lot of skeptics and reluctant volunteers who don't understand how we can help kids by giving them a great week of fun and memories and faith.

https://vimeo.com/357634335

Wales UK, Camp

Children are the same all around the world.  They hurt, they want to be loved and they just want to be a kid.  Here is a great article about our camp in Wales UK. 

https://news.ag.org/features/royal-family-kids-camp-hope-amid-horror













https://news.ag.org/features/royal-family-kids-camp-hope-amid-horror

Former Campers Now Volunteers

Last year we had 237 former campers return as volunteers.  What a great tribute to their success and the program being something they want to be a part of.

Global Roundtable 2019

Our third Global Roundtable was held in Sydney, Australia in May 2019.  We had 35 attendees from 9 countries all connected with RFK.  Attending were Wales UK, Australia, Poland, Chile, Argentina, South Africa, Namibia, Ghana, and the USA.

We discussed many of the challenges that each country faces in its efforts to help children from hard places.  Each country gave its own report including the number of camps, mentoring clubs, kids, volunteers, and their challenges and successes.   

The camp where we stayed holds three local RFK's during the year and is an exceptionally well-run campground facility.  

We gathered to connect, discuss, encourage and refine the RFK operations, holding true to the core of what makes RFK work, yet being flexible with the model and the cultural needs of each country.  

Cultures and needs are very different around the world, but what is consistent are the needs of the children and the expansive hearts of the volunteers who are working so hard at trying to meet the needs under very challenging conditions. 

Below are some photos of our time together in the conference room, but also on tour around Sydney.  

Part of the process to improve RFK is to get to know each other through experiences, including touring the city of Sydney.  Several of the attendees from South America and Africa would have never been able to travel to somewhere like Australia, except for an event like this.  They were most grateful for the opportunity, and felt humbled and blessed to represent their country at this event.  The opportunity to tour Sydney with them allowed them to truly open up and have personal discussions about their struggles and challenges far outside of their official reports.  

Walking tour of the camp facility - Great way to shake off jetlag.  Australia is 18 hours different than CA time.  





Lookout point toward the Pacific Ocean.

Our training room for the week.

Training Exercise - Topics to be covered at local training.






Animal Exposure near the camp facility.  Very tame Wallabies.












This is Miguel from Chile whom I trained for a week back in 2012 while I was in Chile.


Peter Lusk and our speaker for the week, Dr. Bill Prevette.




Argentina Representatives signing their Global Roundtable Agreement.