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Camp Ten Trees
How do you come together and share a resource?
Camp Ten Trees offers the Pacific Northwest’s only summer camp sessions for kids from LGBTQ families, ages 8-17, and for youth who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, or Queer (LGBTQ) and their Allies, ages 13-17. Since 2001 we have been coming together and sharing the resource of our PRIDE to make this camp happen.
Some of our campers have tremendous anxiety before camp because they’ve had bad experiences in their personal lives for being LGBTQ or because they’ve experienced isolation at other camps because they come from families that are not traditional.
But, after a couple days of being surrounded by people who accept and support them for who they are, these campers begin to transform and grow – creating, for a short time, a world with no shame, no prejudice, and no hate. Every summer we watch these kids as they realize they have worth, are valued, and are appreciated for being who they are at that moment. When camp ends, many say they are changed and that Camp Ten Trees helped them to find themselves. They feel confident, assured, and little more secure in navigating a world that, for the most part, sends them daily messages that they are “less than” or should not exist at all.
This is what sustains our volunteers throughout the rest of the year to come together and work countless hours to ensure Camp Ten Trees is here next summer for these kids. And although our monetary and organizational resources are limited, what we have in abundance is the PRIDE we share in being who we are.
How would your group use the award money?
Camp Ten Trees is proud of the fact that we have NEVER turned away a child who needs us for lack of funds. Our Camperships Fund is specifically for this purpose and helps cover the cost of attending camp for campers who otherwise would not be able to attend. In 2008 we gave out $19,000 in camperships, and in 2009 we gave out $27,000, a sizeable increase due to the financial hardships caused by the recession.
We hope to also help kids with travel costs as we are becoming better known throughout the world as one of only a handful of camps of this kind. In recent years, in addition to serving kids from around Washington State, we also had campers come to us from throughout the United States and beyond.
If granted, this money would provide for increased Camperships in 2010 and would jump start our fundraising efforts for our 2010 camp sessions – our 10th anniversary year!
A parent
This camp saved my child’s life.
And that is not an understatement.
She does not feel alone anymore and I’m so greatful for that.
THANK YOU, Camp Ten Trees.
C.W.
This video brought tears to my eyes. The joy on the faces of the kids (due to being able to relax and be themselves most likely) was amazing. Keep up the good work!
hurricane
Camp is home. Enough said. This is needed and loved!!!
Pip Squeek
This video should prove to all the amazing work that Camp Ten Trees does. I have seen personally the impact that CTT has on kids who might otherwise resort to less healthy forms of coping with the pressure and disapproval they face from family members, from school, from their life outside camp. Camp is a place where they can be who they want to be, learn that they are not alone, they find solace and happiness. As you can see in the video, it provides a safe place to explore facets of our lives that impact how we relate to the world, how we function as a person, and how we express ourself. Camp provides the tools to self-exploration and through that provides the tools to happiness.
Madrona
Camp ten trees saved my life. They say disney world is the happiest place on earth… well they haven’t been to camp. I can’t wait to go to Camp Ten Trees every year for the rest of my life!
Doug Claydon
I wish we had a Camp Ten Trees here in Western Australia, I know several Young Gay Guys who would love this type of adventure and be taught that’s its COOL to be with older guys who show and teach things that they will never learn in School or College. I hope you win First Prize.
Doug in Perth Western Australia
Rebecca Quaytman
Camp Ten Trees changes all of our families lives for the better. You can’t believe the relief for these kids to go to a camp where they are fully accepted and celebrated. The friends my son met there are with him supporting him on line or on the phone all year round. And everyday Isaac says “oh I wish I could be at Camp Ten Trees now”
Lori Jackson
Camp Ten Trees is a wonderful camp that four of our kids have enjoyed going to throughout the years. It provides a wonderful oppertunity for kids and adult counselors to get out into the country and enjoy themselves as they learn about diversity and acceptance. I always try to do whatever I can to support this camp and the wonderful influence it has on our society by helping to raise non judgemental , responsible future adults.
Mamma T
We live in Ontario Canada and my daughter attended her first camp ten trees 3 years ago and it really made her so happy and so excited to be so accepted . It was such a safe place and she met such wonderful kids and counsellers there. I heard so much about camp and lots of camp songs and she started a countdown until the next year. She is now 18 and has become a counseller as she wants to give back. Dr.Egbok was right the youth of today will run this camp tomorrow. It will only benefit todays society to make people love one another and take the word hate out of our vocabulary and hopefully our actions. Camp Ten Trees is such a blessing to our negative world , Thankyou from one mom who has a wonderful child who can face one part of her world that does not judge
Brian Thurston
Camp Ten Trees is truly a one-of-a-kind organization. I’ve spoken to alumni of the program, now young, healthy, community-minded adults, and they all credit this camp for helping turn their lives around. Before they were scared, angry, confused, and now they love themselves and understand friendship and community. Just being around the volunteers, supporters and campers at events, you can feel and see the tremendous sense of family and community. Great job – keep it up!
Pop Star
Ten Trees is transforming lives, enhancing lives, and saving lives. The world is a better place because it exists. xoxo
Rachael
I was so excited to discover Camp Ten Trees this year. Just the fact that it exists and is full of such amazing people and programs fills my entire heart with happiness. What I would have given to have been able to attend such a place when I was young. I’ll most certainly be volunteering next year. I believe wholeheartedly in this program and am excited to be a part of it in the future!
Amanda Lorenzo
I adore Camp Ten Trees! This year our goddaughter attended camp for the first time in her life and she had so much fun. Hats off to the Camp Ten Trees supporters, staff and volunteers for creating such a great place for children and teens to celebrate their families and themselves.
Angela Kelly
My daughter has been going to Camp Ten Trees every summer since 2003. She loves it and so do I! They provide a rare and amazing opportunity for the youth to support each other. In a world where oppression exists, CTT provides a space for campers to develop personal pride.
Thank you Camp Ten Trees!
Kristina Turner
I am so grateful for this camp. It was here that my son discovered what it feels like to be 100% supported as who he is–a playful, creative powerhouse of a human being! Relationships he formed at camp support him throughout the school-year, too, as he stays in touch with many friends via phone and internet chat and sees them at Ten Trees planning and fundraising events. The film does a great job of introducing people to camp, although it focuses mostly on the experience of campers. I would add that this organization does an awesome job of supporting youth to step into co-operative leadership as Junior Staff and Camp Counselors. May Camp Ten Trees thrive long into the future!
Mija
Camp Ten Trees is a place for young people to grown, learn, laugh & create. It is a place for self awareness & empowerment. Camp Ten Trees is AMAZING!
Brett 'q.tip' Turrell
There is so much love and acceptance at Camp Ten Trees!! It truly is a special place and I’m so fortunate and humbled to have been embraced by this community.
And the youth we serve, well, what can I say? They are the most awesome and courageous kids I know and they continually show me that a better world IS possible if we replace our fears and ignorance with open hearts and minds.
I realized a greater sense of my own humanity and I’m a much better person for it.
Thank you SO much Camp Ten Trees!!
Calen
This camp saved my sanity as a camper, and has provided me with amazing opportunities for growth, fun and pride as a staff volunteer. This video captures what camp is so perfectly
THANK YOU CAMP TEN TREES!!!
Furless!
We love Camp Ten Trees, & Camp Ten Trees loves us. This camp community cherishes it’s campers, of course. But the way CTT carefully considers & then includes the ideas, feedback, & collaborative efforts of extended family of campers, volunteers & other organizations creates a network of support for campers that reaches out beyond the camp environment & into camper’s daily lives. This is so very valuable, & based on my experience, so very rare.
Sweetums!!!
I volunteered at CTT for the first time this past summer.
I was completely floored by the place.
While the intention of CTT is about providing a safe place for queer and allied youth, the programming pushes well beyond that. Campers that come here are offered the opportunity to appreciate and embrace social justice on many fronts, and are challenged to incorporate fairness, mindfulness and compassion throughout the session and beyond. Kids that come here not only have the opportunity to feel safe and heard regarding their bodies, gender and preferences, but also their race, ethnicity, economic status and all other forms of identity. Campers become better people by coming to this camp.
It is this quality of opportunity provided to youth that has made it an honor and a privilege to serve at CTT.
I watched this camp save lives of youth in just one week. It is my hope that access of CTT can grow and reach those youth who need this place the most.
Panhandle
“How do you come together to share a resource?”
It almost seems as if Op:Coop was created with Camp Ten Trees in mind! People coming together to steward an intentionally built community –sharing both tangible and intangible resources– is what camp is all about!
Campers, volunteers, families, and supporters alike share their pride in coming together to create a safe and welcoming environment for youth of LGBTQ communities — a place that is truly their own.
SNP
I love Camp Ten Trees soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much!
Artu
There aren’t other places that let kids within the LGBTQ community feel their own sense of community. Thanks CTT for making this possible!
Rabbit
This is the best place on earth and my home away from home!! i love this camp sssssooo much. Also there isn’t a place where other teens like me can just be kids/teens again, and not have to worry about what other people and what other people might do because of being GLBTQ, or having parents that are!
I LOVE CAMP TEN TREES!
Shae
You guys rock! I wish this was around when I was a queer kid in Colorado. I’m glad you are doing the work that you do for the youth of today. Keep it up.
Sphinx
Camp is love.
Woot
Camp Ten Trees has to be one of the best things to have come out of the past decade. What better way to improve our community through cooperative action than to reach out to a group of kids, and show them tolerance and acceptance? The campers from the beginning are now growing up, going out into the world, and spreading their tolerance to others that may not have experienced it before. I am without a doubt certain that sometime soon, at least everybody will know somebody that has been positively affected in some way by this amazing camp.
Pez Machine
camp is home. camp is family. camp is love.
Maple
Camp Ten Trees makes the world a better place!
Rick P
My daughter has attended this camp for three years, and has been an unbelievably wonderful experience for her. I am so impressed with the camp and what it is offering the community, that I have begun working with the funding and development committee of the camp for the past year. Yea Camp Ten Trees!
Teresa E
Every single camper and staff member has extremely wonderful, inspirational, and comforting stories to tell. This camp has touched many many lives in very positive ways. It gives hope and esteem to budding lives, encouraging growth into confident sensitive adult community members.
Cristopher'Dr EGBOK' Bosted
CTT is the ultimate in Courage, Health, Inclusion, Play, Stewardship, Family, Acceptance, Integrity, and Leadership that helps foster love, growth and justice for self, the community and the world at large. CTT allows you to really, really, really find out who you are and accepts you as a magnificent quirky being in this confusing world. CTT is lightness in the darkness. Camp can bring out the darkness of your situation AND can show you a light to help you get through it. CTT is an experience that cannot be truly described AND DOES CHANGE LIVES!
Cristopher'Dr EGBOK' Bosted
Thank you CTT, all the volunteers, all the campers and families and fans. You ALL help make the world a better place.
stephen guy
bless you for the work you do. i am with another group seeking this grant, egrr, evergreen golden retriever rescue. if my group doesn’t win, i hope you do. keep up the good work my friends.
Michigan
Camp Ten Trees is a life changing experience for both campers and staff, and is really about nurturing and protecting the most vulnerable members of the queer family. This organization is truly one of a kind and I hope that 25 years from now it is bigger than any of us can even imagine! I love Camp!!!!!
House of Seattle
Camp Ten Trees is an extraordinary organization. I know of no other organization dedicated to fostering an environment where people can truly be themselves. If all people were forced to attend this camp, I believe the world would be a much friendlier place. This camp promotes understanding, playfulness, compassion, and the importance of respect for differences. May Camp Ten Trees continue to spread its message of love and acceptance by growing and expanding its reach twofold …
Maddi
Camp Ten Trees is amazing.
I pretty much grew up there.
And it’s a huge honor to be a part of it.
jim brown
Camp Ten Trees, helps children know there is a place in this world for everyone. It teaches that no matter what you feel or who you love, it is important to be yourself. This changes not only their lives, and the lives of camp counselors, but also generations to come. It is simply love and acceptance.
Sage Cameron
camp ten trees, amazing love you so much
Skitt
Camp Ten Trees is one of the most amazing things in the world. It’s even better then toy robots. No joke. This camp and the people who run it have undoubtedly changed my life FOREVER.
Love you CTT!
Skitt.
shanna porter leigh woody
this camp = family.