Sun and Sand, Together we Did it!

It’s a wrap, folks!  The 26th year of Midwest Children’s Burn Camp (MCBC) is in the books and what a week it was!  With all age groups back together again, we had a total of 65 campers and 58 volunteers join us for a week of sun, pool time, archery, horseback riding, and, of course, dancing!

The theme of the 2022 camp session was “Sun and Sand, Together we can!”  The theme was intended to foster a sense of togetherness and family that had been missing in the past two camp seasons due to the pandemic.  It was clear that the campers enjoyed being around others of all age groups, especially during our Evening Programming such as the River Party and the Dance on the last night of camp.  One camper wrote that their favorite part about MCBC 2022 was “The family feeling I get from staff and campers.” Another camper couldn’t quite pin down their favorite thing about camp, saying “[my favorite thing at camp is] Probably everything.  Just being at camp makes me happiest.”

Campers were not the only ones who found their participation in camp this year meaningful.  According to a caregiver post-camp survey, 62% of respondents strongly agreed with the statement “My camper felt less self-conscious about his or her burn scars after returning home from MCBC 2022” as well as the statement “My camper’s self-confidence improved after attending MCBC 2022.”

One of the highlights of camp this year was camper choice time. In response to feedback from campers in 2021 that they wanted some control over what activities they participated in during the week, we offered campers choice time for the final period of the day on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of the week of camp.  Campers were able to select their 1st, 2nd, and 3rd preferred activities and participate in them all!  Both campers and counselors viewed campers choice time as a huge success and we look forward to having it again in 2023!

An additional high point we must touch on from MCBC 2022 is our annual age-out project.  Every summer, our age-outs – campers who will return the next year as Counselors-in-Training (CITs) – complete a project designed to leave the campus better than they found it.  This year, our age-outs built a teambuilding structure that can be used by future campers to learn to work as a group, solve problems together, and have fun!  We are so proud of our age-outs and what they accomplished this summer!

We cannot talk about the success of MCBC without mentioning the continued partnership and support we receive from Camp Taum Sauk.  For the past three years, Camp Taum Sauk staff have remained on campus for an additional week after their traditional eight week session to run activities, cook and serve meals, maintain the facilities and be awesome friends and mentors to our campers.  Our gratitude towards them is immeasurable.