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VISION
We
seek to create a community dedicated to
empowering youth and preserving the
wilderness for the future of all children.
In
1992, we met Scottie. Scottie was eight years old and living
with his parents and baby brother in a van in a national forest.
Scottie and his family were homeless. Scottie's father
worked as a day laborer in nearby towns. Scottie owned one book
which he clung to - a children's bible that he could not read.
We did not know homeless children existed in America. We were
horrified. We found that while many organizations and public
figures are working to end homelessness, few efforts address
the special needs of homeless children. The National Coalition
for the Homeless states that, "Homelessness today is not just
a housing issue, it is an education issue, a children's issue
and a family issue. Attempts to break the cycle that do not
address these facts are destined to fail." In 1999, we opened
Scottie's Place, the first year-round special needs camp in
the United States for homeless children.
Scottie's
Place has three goals. Within five years we will serve 200
children year-round. We will preserve the land on which the
camp operates, creating a model for other special needs camps.
And we will bring national attention to America's homeless children.
The year we met Scottie, there were 200,000 homeless children
in America. Over the next decade that number doubled, then doubled
again. In the year 2002, 1.4 million children became homeless
in America.
Scottie's
Place empowers, educates and enlivens homeless children.
For two healing weeks campers take back their childhood. Life
on the streets, even in shelters, is dangerous and frightening.
Parents are consumed by the daily fight for survival. Homeless
children lead lives of crisis and despair and learn to expect
the worst. Scottie's Place offers safety, respite and rejuvenation
to these children. Scottie's Place allows children to process
traumas and overcome fears that have been created as a result
of homelessness. This wild and wonderful land goes deep into
the soul of a child. In a letter of thanks, one mother wrote,
"My children learned about the strong spirit within themselves
and the loving and caring spirit of others. In a world where
so many bad things can happen, I'm glad there is a Scottie's
Place where children like mine can experience all of the many
beautiful things this life has to offer."
Scottie's
Place purposefully combines the therapeutic concepts of special
needs programs and wilderness adventure. Special needs camps
have a proven track record for improving the lives of the participants.
There are currently hundreds of camps in the United States to
address the special needs of children with cancer and other
life threatening illnesses, children who have lost family members
to violence, children from war-torn countries. Special needs
camps help children regain control of their lives.
Wilderness
adventure programs are able to make a powerful and lasting impact
in a very short time. Outward Bound, BOSS Schools, Eckerd Camp
Systems and others have successfully used the challenge of wilderness
adventure to produce life changing experiences for the participants.
By immersing campers in an intense, dramatically different environment
they are shocked into a new awareness. Children who experience
Scottie's Place gain a new perspective on their lives and futures.
Scottie's
Place is a local and national resource for children in crisis.
Rural shelters from West Virginia and urban shelters from Pennsylvania,
Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina and Washington D.C.
have sent their children to Scottie's Place. We will continue
to expand our services to shelters within a 500 mile radius
of the camp. Our waiting list is huge and shelters around the
country are pleading for programs for their children. There
is nothing else like Scottie's Place!
Scottie's
Place is strategically located on 318 pristine mountain acres
between the Appalachian Trail and the New River. Scottie's
Place has launched a special campaign to purchase the land it
leases and give the camp a permanent home. This campaign,
called Name an Acre, will raise $318,000 by May 2004. This will
pay for the land, increase programs at the camp and start an
endowment fund for Scottie's Place. We are seeking individuals
and groups who will support us in this endeavor. Once the land
is secured, it will be placed into trust and preserved in perpetuity.
Scottie's
Place will be a permanent resource for homeless children and
families and a replicable model of an organization dedicated
to needy children and wilderness preservation: a model for preservation
and service.
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