Summer Camp Report 2024
It is with great excitement, that The Laurel Foundation has completed our 2024 Summer Camp sessions! We were able to provide some incredible programs – including bringing back Camp Laurel Teen Adventure Camp for our campers affected by HIV/AIDS, and the inaugural Camp Mulberry Family Camp for our families of campers who are transgender / gender diverse.
Camp Laurel Teen Adventure Camp 2024
This summer, The Laurel Foundation’s Camp Laurel Teen Adventure Camp program, was based at Cal State University Northridge and focused on introducing the youth to higher education, inspiring them to be the first in their family to go to college or higher education. Each day the youth ventured to an internship of their choice with a local company. Internships were based on trade skills, environmental education, the arts, building healthy lifestyles, and advocating through their voices. A big component of this program was to educate the youth on HIV prevention, inspiring the youth to become HIV/AIDS advocates for HIV awareness and prevention. We want to thank our partners in this program, Horror Escapes LA, reDiscover Center, Would Works, LA Compost, LA Culinary School, Chris Rhodes and Dorrit Ragosine and team, and of course Pepsico.
One of the incredible opportunities our youth had was to write, direct, and film a Public Service Announcement on HIV/AIDS. In December we will send the HIV Prevention PSA to local media for broadcast – keep your eyes out for it! Thank you to our volunteers and donors who helped make this program possible.
Camp Mulberry Summer Camp 2024
Camp Mulberry this year was back again at Big Bear Lake, empowering transgender and gender-diverse children and youth to build support groups, gain life skills, and connect with the outdoors. At camp, gender-diverse kids can exist in a safe and welcoming environment where they are surrounded by others who have similar life experiences. They were supported by their camp counselors, many of whom are also part of the LGBTQ+ community. Traditional camp activities like archery, kayaking, high ropes, and swimming, as well as new offerings like dance and yoga, encouraged campers to connect with their bodies positively. Camp Mulberry also embraced campers’ creativity with plenty of arts and crafts, a sewing class, creative writing, and the ever-popular Talent Show at the end of the week. Our team of volunteers gave it their all this week and made a summer camp experience everyone will remember. Thank you to our friends at Hollywood Heart who brought in some of our activity facilitators.
Camp Mulberry Family Camp 2024
The Laurel Foundation started doing Family Camps in 1998 when it became clear that helping children affected by HIV/AIDS was best done by supporting the whole family. When the Laurel Foundation expanded its mission in 2017 to include transgender and gender non-conforming youth, the family camp was already a goal for the future. This year we were able to hold our first Camp Mulberry Family Camp. Parents were able to connect at parent-exclusive hangouts and discussion groups while the kids played games. Everyone was able to participate in camp activities like Archery, High Ropes, and Swimming. Most importantly, families were able to experience the magic of camp together.
Since its creation in 1993, the Laurel Foundation has provided summer camp experiences 100% free of charge. It is central to our mission that our campers have the opportunity to come together and exist in community with one another without having a financial barrier in their way.
Our camps are staffed by an incredible group of Volunteers. For all of our summer camps this year we had a team of 6 medical staff, 6 mental health professionals, and 52 camp counselors. Every single one of these volunteers had to commit to a lengthy interview process, hours of online and in-person trainings, and a full week of time disconnected from their lives and their loved ones. Our volunteers come back year after year to do all of this because of their compassion for the incredible youth we get to work with.
We also were lucky to have 20-day facilitators who came up to camp to share their skills. Some of the amazing workshops they held with us included sewing, cooking, film writing direction and production, dancing, and more! The Laurel Foundation also hosted multiple-day events throughout the year, staffed by 33 volunteers including our friends from UCLA’s Pediatric AIDS Coalition (PAC).
None of this would be possible without our incredibly generous donors, including individuals just like you. Our waitlists for camp grow every year, and while we will continue to strive to provide these amazing programs to as many youth as possible, we need community support to do so. Everything we do… “It’s for the kids!”
