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 DOWNLOAD THE DONATION FORM
When one or both parents are deployed, families
are turned upside-down. Logistically, financially,
emotionally – the challenges are sudden
and dramatic.
Since 2003, ACA Keystone has coordinated
an innovative program called Operation Summer
Camp (OSC) that has helped families meet some
of those challenges by sending about 150 military
kids to camp, tuition free.
ACA member camps
in PA and DE have donated camperships worth more
than $500,000 to children of deployed guardsmen
in the PA Air National Guard's 111th Fighter
Wing, based in Willow Grove, PA, but serving
families statewide. Children affiliated with
the 171st Air Refueling Wing in western Pennsylvania
are hoping camps will offer camperships for them
in 2010, as well.
Unlike other week-long camp
programs exclusively for military children, OSC
allows the Wing's Family Readiness Coordinator
to match a child with a campership for one to
seven weeks, so the child can experience a traditional
camp program with non-military kids. One parent
said, "It allowed my daughter to feel like
a regular kid. And we never could have sent her
to camp without OSC."
If your camp can
donate one or more campership slots this summer – from
one week to a full summer, or anything inbetween – please
DOWNLOAD
THE DONATION FORM and follow the instructions
on the form for completing and returning it to
Ellen Warren for ACA Keystone. Questions? Call
Ellen Warren at 215-886-1666 or email ellen@acakeystone.org. |
