Making Moments Matter | Royal Family Kids Camp
Making moments matter
A hope and a future
What one week at Royal Family Kids Camp taught me about the Kingdom of God, and why I keep coming back.
“What’s a birthday party?” she asked, sitting on the edge of the stage looking at me. “Like, what do you do at those?” she continued. I learned during the training before camp that some kids who attend camp have never had a birthday party, but I didn’t really believe it. So, each year, camp hosts a birthday party for all of the campers. I forget the exact words I said, but something like, ‘Oh, well, there will be fun activities and games, food, and presents.’ “Presents!!” she exclaimed. “We each get one?!” “Yeah, everyone gets their own present to take home,” I said. “We should probably head on over there now. It’s about to start.” “OK!” she said enthusiastically as she jumped to her feet and skipped away with a smile on her face.
Royal Family Kids Camp (RFK), under the organization For the Children, exists for moments like this, treating kids royally and making moments matter. RFK is a 5-day summer camp for foster children or children who have experienced relational trauma. In order to provide for these kids, RFK seeks to mobilize trained volunteers from local churches to staff each camp.
Since the first camp in 1985, which started out of Costa Mesa, RFK now hosts more than 200 camps every summer across 45 states and 10 countries. RFK aims to provide experiences for campers that can build their self-esteem, create positive memories, plant seeds of hope for the future, and teach them about the love of God.
Campers enjoy traditional summer camp activities like archery, bottle rockets, swimming, woodworking, crafts, tea parties, and more while worship and Bible stories plant seeds of hope for the future. Campers are taught that their current circumstances do not define their future, and that they have a Father in heaven who loves them and who has a plan for them. Camp also points toward the family we are part of through Christ. There is a camp grandma and grandpa, a camp aunt and uncle, and a camp therapy dog. It really is like a “family.” Amazingly, there is one counselor for every two campers, so the intentionality from the adults to the kids is incredible. Each night, campers look forward to bedtime because it also means they get to open and read mail they have been given from caring adults that day.
When I look around at camp, I see a diverse group of volunteers from various Orange County churches, I witness countless acts of selfless love, and many of us experience an unspeakable joy that permeates the week. RFK not only changes the lives of campers, it also changes the lives of the volunteers.
14 years ago, a friend in a band I just joined said, “Hey, wanna play drums at a kids camp?” Being 21 and not up to much (besides trying to make it in a band), I thought that sounded awesome. Little did I know that one week of camp would change my life. I’ve had the privilege of working alongside hundreds of incredible volunteers and of serving around one thousand kids. Because of camp, I went on to major in psychology at Vanguard University, I got connected to Rock Harbor during a time in my life when I needed a healthy spiritual community more than ever, and eventually I met my wife through friends from camp. The opportunity to serve at camp came along when I was in one of the darkest seasons of my life and gave me a hope and a future, just like we hope to give to our campers.
Over the last few years, in addition to drumming, I’ve stepped into the role of lead photographer at our camp. The photo team at camp provides each camper with a personalized printed photo album of memories from camp for them to take home. On average, our camp has between 60-100 kids, and a lot of them do not have many possessions to call their own, let alone photos of themselves. As a professional photographer, being able to give them physical memories of what hopefully was one of the best weeks ever is such a gift.
At any time, there are approximately 450,000 children in foster care in the United States, 65,000 in California, and 3,000 in Orange County. Many have suffered neglect and physical or sexual abuse. All have undergone the trauma of having been removed from their families. Without intervention, children whose lives have been impacted by being in the foster care system face an uncertain future.
Every one of RFK’s Camps and Clubs is 100% donation-based, and every year, every volunteer is asked to cover the cost of themselves and one kid going to camp. If you are able, a donation of any amount goes directly toward this mission of loving the least of these, making moments matter, and giving a hope and a future.
