Although I would love to believe that everyone is made to volunteer at Royal Family Kids Camp, I know the reality is that it isn’t for everyone. Some are called to pray, some are called to donate, and some are called to go.

For those who go, there is often a story of a child that so profoundly impacted them during 5 short days of volunteering that they keep coming back year after year. 

That was my experience. And so I share with you…the story of the one.

I jumped in full throttle my first year of RFKC with the task of leading 48 campers and 70+ adults in songs with high energy motions. Although that role was what most people saw me in, what really captured my heart happened in quiet moments, standing on the floor of a cabin, with my arm in the air, holding a 7-year-old little girl’s hand from her top bunk. 

Such a small gesture gave her the courage and comfort she needed to shut her eyes and go to sleep each night.  

As each day passed I watched this little girl come out of her closed shell.  She started to laugh and play, and just be a kid!  She did each activity with all that she had and each night fell asleep just a little easier.  

Because I had formed a connection with this particular camper, I was excited to carry her luggage and all the beautiful things she had made over the week to her caregiver’s car. Nothing prepared me for what took place. 

Instead of being met by a biological family member, a foster parent, or an adoptive parent…this little princess was met by her social worker. Without previous knowledge or warning, she was being placed in a new foster home. She cried all the way to the car, and it broke me. I watched the child that had been unleashed from this little person curl back up inside her shell – right before my eyes.  

We have the privilege of being with our campers for 5 days. We cannot exchange personal information with campers, and have no further contact with them unless they return back to camp the following years until they turn 11.

In some cases the camper may also attend Teenworks and our interaction and impact can be prolonged a bit in that setting.  But our role is to love them well while we’re with them, faithfully pray for them, and leave them in God’s capable hands.  

In my experience with the 7 year old girl…

God showed out!!  She was eventually fostered, then adopted by a wonderful family that played ball in the same league our sons played. I had the privilege of sitting in the stands cheering her through her middle and high school years of sports. 

I had a front row seat to watch her grow into the amazing young woman she is today!  And this past summer, she returned to RFKC as a volunteer.  She was the sweetest counselor to our youngest little girls!!  And I was able to share with her for the first time, that she is the reason I have continued to serve at camp all these years.