Well, with our first session of Virtual YEA Camp, we found out! And we couldn’t be more proud or excited for what we accomplished.

First, our campers did so much activism!

In less than 5 days, they raised (that we know of) $3,696 for the organizations of their choice (including Charlie’s Acres, Color of Change, Equal Justice Initiative, Greenpeace, Lambda Legal, and the San Francisco SPCA), registered or reminded 1, 294 people to vote absentee (by mail), and made 81 advocacy phone calls to decision makers! Incredible!

In a supportive community, working with other youth passionate about the same cause and with the mentorship of one of our amazing staff members — all of whom are past YEA Campers who have gone on to do tons of really impressive activism themselves — our campers achieved things they never expected they could, and they did it in such a short period of time!

We also did so many fun activities, from a yoga class and a vegan cooking class to a scavenger hunt and a pet cuteness contest! (It was an all-way tie!)

We got such great feedback from campers we thought we’d share a few of their comments from our anonymous evaluations.

It’s not too late to sign up!

Do you know any youth ages 10-17 who want to make our world a better place?

We still have 3 weeks left of YEA Camp sessions with amazing guest speakers, super fun activities, and lots of activism and inspiration making a difference on the cause of your choice.

Our incredible staff will be here supporting you along the way!

The upcoming sessions are:

• Exploring the Issues – July 20-24
• Amplifying Your Message – July 27-31
• Careers for Changemakers – August 3-7

In this upcoming week 2, some things we’re really looking forward to:

• amazing guest speakers like Genesis Butler, Julia Clark, and Zoe Weil
• a vegan Mexican cuisine cooking class with celebrity vegan chef Eddie Garza
• a dance class with a celebrity guest dance teacher and choreographer, SuzE Q
• a virtual visit to Farm Sanctuary to spend time with the animals

It’s not too late to register, so if you’re 10-17 years old and want to make our world a better place, join us for a week (or 2 or 3) that will help you make a difference for the future!

Details and get registered at www.YEACamp.org.

The post Virtual YEA Camp Is Officially a Success! appeared first on YEA Camp.

Thanks to the support of two generous donors, all donations raised through the end of the year are being TRIPLED. This is so important to us for a few reasons. First, 51 of our 100 campers this summer were on some form of financial aid. Seventeen of those campers received full scholarships. Overall, we granted $66,400 worth of financial aid. 

We strive to make YEA Camp equitable for all who want to be there, regardless of socioeconomic status. If you want to change the world, we want to help you do it. Because of this, the YEA Camp Scholarship Fund is a critical part of our mission. Without it, so many of our campers would simply not be able to have this life-changing experience. 

Okay, so financial aid is important, but what is this Volunteer-a-Thon anyway?

Some organizations encourage their community to raise money through a 5k run or by selling magazines. We wanted to put a twist on the traditional asks by tapping into our activist networks. 

The Volunteer-a-Thon was created as a way for people to raise awareness about a cause that is important to them while also doing more service and activism. By publicly sharing what they are working on, our community is being held socially accountable to follow through with the changes they want to make and the activism they want to do. 

Last week, we shared a post by YEA Camper Mia Jay-Pachirat about her project of creating an environmental zine that talks about climate change and provides simple solutions for people living in New York City (where Mia lives)! You can read more about her project and experience at YEA Camp here or donate to her activism here.

So what exactly are people doing?

Dima

Dima Bischoff-Hashem is a 16-year-old high school student from New Jersey. At YEA Camp, she defined her Issue of Importance (IOI) as animal rights. After camp, she started attending animal rights marches and vigils and volunteering at a farmed animal sanctuary. 

Currently, Dima is starting an animal rights group in her hometown with the goal of supporting other farm sanctuaries and animal rights groups. 

Dima says, “YEA Camp taught me how to go about activism, how to talk to people about causes I care about, and how to create a doable, step-by-step plan of action.”

To learn more or support Dima, click here.

Audrey

Audrey Watson attended YEA Camp this past summer and is a passionate advocate for environmental justice. She is currently volunteering with her local chapter of the Sunrise Movement, a youth led organization dedicated to stopping the climate crisis while providing a just transition for everyone. 

Audrey is also working on co-founding a nonprofit organization with her friend called New Jersey Students for Sustainable Schools. 

She says, “This organization will work to help empower youth and guide them to use their voices in order to make their schools more sustainable and environmentally friendly.”

To learn more or support Audrey, click here.

Danielle

Danielle Holtz is a senior at the University of North Carolina, Asheville. She was a YEA Camper in 2015 and has since been a counselor-in-training, counselor, Operations Manager, blog editor, intern, and YEA Camp Youth Fundraising and Publicity team Founder. 

Danielle’s activism centers around food. She serves as her school’s Sustainable Food Procurement Analyst, creating sustainability criteria for institutional purchasing. Her work as a Campus Representative for the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) means she puts on eight animal rights events per semester!!

She is also the President of Active Students for a Healthy Environment, where she works to reduce campus food waste, promotes animal rights, and offers leadership and guidance to the Sunrise Movement committee. 

Danielle says that, “Without YEA Camp, I have no idea where I would be. It truly was the most life-changing experience I have ever had, and I love being able to share that with 12-17 year olds from across the country (and world!) each year.”

To learn more or support Danielle, click here.

How you can be involved

It’s not too late to create a page. You can learn everything about creating your own activist project here. 

If you can’t create a page, we would still love your support. If you are able, please consider making a tax-deductible donation to YEA Camp. As a reminder, all donations are being TRIPLED thanks to the support of two generous donors. 

Please help support our programs by sharing this link with others. Your support makes camp accessible for activists around the world. 

Want to join us next summer?

We recently announced the dates for YEA Camp 2020 and are currently running an Early Bird special. Register by the end of the year to receive $250 off your registration. Do you know someone who would be great for camp? Nominate them here!

• Youth Camp: in Ventura, California (July 5 – 12) and Charlton, Massachusetts (August 1 – 8)
• Adult Camp: in Lanoka Harbor, New Jersey (July 18 – 24)

The post Youth Activists Make a Difference Through Volunteer-a-Thon appeared first on YEA Camp.

Every year, thousands of people across North America participate in an incredible mass display of compassion towards farmed animals — some of the most abused on the planet. Farm Sanctuary’s annual Walk for Farm Animals campaign is a hugely successful national fundraiser to support the organization, which works to rescue and rehabilitate mistreated farm animals at its three (soon to be four) farmland sanctuaries in California and New York.

Anyone who wants to participate can register online and join a “team” with which to walk in one of fourteen different cities across the U.S. and one in Canada.

Because Youth Empowered Action (YEA) Camp serves vegan food and values animal rights alongside other important social justice issues it trains campers to work on, it’s no surprise that a lot of campers and staff members joined the Walk at locations all over the country.

In a mini reunion, YEA Camp counselor Madeleine Lifsey joined camp director/founder Nora Kramer and former campers (now staff!) Shelby Kim and Jasmine Caruk at the Boston March. They also volunteered to gather signatures for Massachusetts’ ballot initiative for farm animals, which has since qualified to be voted on in November 2016.

A larger YEA Camp reunion took place at the New York Walk for Farm Animals, where campers Ananya Singh, Eva Schenk, Bryn Colodny, Ollie Smith, Lillian Davis-Bosch, Sarah Sciortino, Rachel Gayle, Marcela Cueto and Lori Baccari formed a team that came in third place for amount of money raised, at $1,681.
If that’s not awesome enough, they also got to meet Farm Sanctuary founder Gene Baur and talk with him about YEA Camp! They leafleted along the way, and even passed out leaflets on the subway after it was over before going out to have vegan lunch.

Ananya recounts, “It was an enjoyable experience, and it helped me learn about the great things Farm Sanctuary is doing, and to meet and educate people about it!” Ananya also won top youth fundraiser for the NYC WFFA.

YEA Campers participated in these walks on the east coast, on the west coast, and in the Midwest.

Claire Tamburello, 18-year-old former camper who this year worked a Counselor In Training at YEA Camp’s New York camp, has been a dedicated animal activist for years, as featured on our YEA Camp blog. She is a regular at Farm Sanctuary walks and raised money and awareness for animals in Grand Rapids, MI.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, former camper Marley Goldman walked in Seattle (joined by her awesome mom Gail) and won first place as the top teen fundraiser at $660! Go Marley!

I myself walked in Hartford and raised hundreds of dollars for farm animals. It was a wonderful experience!

Not only did I get to speak up in the name of animals, but I also got to walk with a group of brilliant animal activists from my own community.

My whole family walked with me, including my dog! By raising over $100, I received a special T-shirt I wore for the walk. Afterwards, we all got to hang out in the park, eat vegan snacks, and listen to a live performance.

What an amazing, heartwarming experience! The compassion shown by these YEA Campers and everyone who marched and fundraised is enormous. Thanks to their dedication and many other kind advocates and donors from across the country, Farm Sanctuary was able to raise nearly $150,000 for farm animals over the course of just a few days.

We can be certain that next fall, YEA Campers will be back on the streets of the largest cities in the country, at it again. For more information on Farm Sanctuary’s life-saving work, visit farmsanctuary.org and check out walkforfarmanimals.org to learn how you can sign up to walk next year!

The youth activists mentioned in this article all nurtured and developed their activist passions, skills, and community at Youth Empowered Action (YEA) Camp, a life-changing summer camp for world-changing teens. If you know of any tween/teen, aged 12-17, who has a passion in activism, whether it be for animal rights, feminism, LGBTQ, racial justice, environmentalism, or any other topic, check out yeacamp.org to find out how to sign up for this week-long camp, held this summer in California, New York and Massachusetts. New York’s session will be a special session just for animal advocates held at the similarly amazing Woodstock Farm Sanctuary! Register by Valentine’s Day 2016 to earn an early-bird discount of $150!

About the author: Leah is a 17-year-old, two-time Youth Empowered Action Camp alum and co-editor of the YEA Blog. She has a special interest in animal rights and has visited Farm Sanctuary in Watkins Glen, New York, where she made friends with cows, pigs, chickens, turkeys and goats!

The post Teen Activists Across the Country Walk to Save Animals appeared first on YEA Camp.

Yet, there is so much positivity happening as well.

Our inspiring campers — and the amazing things you have helped make possible through supporting them — are telling a different story.

SO MUCH ACTIVISM!

In the months since YEA Camp, our campers have done so much to impact their schools and communities and to speak out for what’s important to them. We will be sharing much more in the coming weeks and months, but here is just a small sampling of inspiring things our campers have done.

Fourteen-year-old YEA Camper Lauren in California turned heads at school and showed her support for Planned Parenthood by participating in the #PinkOut campaign. Her sign read “I #PinkOut for Planned Parenthood to fight back against attacks on reproductive rights. Join me! #StandwithPP today!” Go Lauren!

Thirteen-year-old Gaby from New York wanted to go to a march about police brutality in support of the Black Lives Matter campaign but knew she wasn’t going to be able to make it — so she did the next best thing. She leafleted about it at her school — and TWO TEACHERS AND FIVE OF HER FRIENDS went as a result of finding out about it from her! Go Gaby!

Ananya from New Jersey was recently named Greenpeace’s Volunteer in the Spotlight, featured on Greenpeace’s home page! Just 12 years old, Anaya gathered students at her school to participate in Greenpeace’s Climate Ribbon Project. The students created 160 ribbons for the upcoming COP21 climate change conference in Paris to show international leaders that youth care about our environment. Go Ananya!

Over a dozen YEA Campers from across the country fundraised and participated in Farm Sanctuary’s Walk for Farm Animals, including this group of campers who marched for YEA Camp in New York. After the walk, the campers had a mini reunion at a neighborhood veg restaurant! Love!

Fourteen-year-old Orianna from a conservative part of California convinced a teacher at her old elementary school to let her teach a weekly class about gender and stereotypes! The class has been going great, and Orianna has been reaching out to our YEA Camp community for curriculum ideas and tips. So far, she has taught lessons about gender as depicted by the media, which toys are meant for boys or girls and why, privilege, and more. Amazing! Go Orianna!

Ashley from Oregon, 16, recently started an Embody Love Club, as part of Embody Love Movement, which she first learned about at YEA Camp. The club helps promote positive body image and self esteem.

Ashley also writes for her school newspaper about social issues, and she is publishing a book that is a collection of literature entirely written by youth! If you know a teen who is interested in contributing, check it out here. Wow, Ashley!

As we reflect on all we have to be grateful for, we wanted you to see just a fraction of what you have helped make possible.

THANK YOU.

YEA Camp is made possible by so many people who contribute their time, money, heart, and energy to this labor of love, helping young people make a bigger difference on causes that matter so much.

We will be announcing our 2016 dates and opening up registration for next summer, as well as sharing some exciting new plans, very soon. In the meantime, THANK YOU for everything you do to make our world a better place!

The post So much to be thankful for and inspired by! appeared first on YEA Camp.

We say it every year, and every year it is true! This was our best summer yet!

With Labor Day gone and, with it, the symbolic end to summer, we are still basking in the accomplishments of our seventh(!) year of epic, life-changing summer camps.

It is impossible to capture in a blog post, but we will try to expand on “WOW!” with a few highlights, outcomes, and testimonials from the campers themselves.

Who, What, When, Where, Wow

• We reached more campers than ever before this summer. Almost 100 youth ages 11-17 came from 16 different states and the District of Columbia to attend.
• We held our first ever issue-specific camp, YEA Camp for Animal Advocates, at the incredible new location ofWoodstock Farm Sanctuary, less than 2 hours from Manhattan, attracting extremely committed and accomplished young advocates such as 14-year-old Avalon from Florida, the founder of the nonprofit Conserve It Forward, and 16-year-old Phoebe from California, “PETA’s Coolest Vegan Alive,” as well as up-and-coming advocates who are just getting started on their activist path.
• Our staff was incredible – from Michael Starkey, a wildlife biologist with Save the Frogs in Central America, to Chloe Falkenheim, the 18-year-old founder of VegYouth, to Charles Orgbon, the CEO of the youth-run nonprofit Greening Forward, to so many more incredible adult mentors — classroom teachers, nonprofit organizers, and all-around do-gooders in life — thrilled to support younger advocates.
  
• Campers from our California and Oregon sessions this summer have already had a reunion that they initiated! Some have also met up to go leafleting, tabling, and protesting; launched fundraisers; launched clubs at their school; and been extremely active on the causes they care about in ways they had never done before YEA Camp. More on that below.

YEA Camp exposes teens
to things they may never learn elsewhere.

A few key things campers learned that they may never have otherwise learned without YEA Camp:

• Each of us has a huge capacity to bring about change, and we can’t allow limiting beliefs we have about ourselves or negativity that others may project on to us to hold us back.
• The interconnection of seemingly unrelated social justice issues — from animal advocacy to poverty, pollution to racism – expanding their understanding of the challenges we face and their deepening their desire and ability to help.
• Skills like grassroots outreach, campaign planning, fundraising, arts activism, and time management.
• Nonviolent communication techniques to connect with people and to feel more confident speaking with those who disagree — inspiring people to want to learn more versus nagging or judging them for being uninformed.
• Tools to inspire others to get involved and examples of ways that current activists and those throughout history have brought about change.
• Self-care approaches to cope with the injustices of our world and the difficulty of bringing about the change we want.
• They are not alone. There are many other people and organizations who care as much as they do and who want to support them in making a difference.

 What Campers Say:

“My time here this past week has shaped my life in a way that I didn’t even know was possible. It opened my heart and mind to what I can do to help the world we live in, and gave me tools to fight for my cause.” – Ollie, 14, NJ

“This has been one of the best experiences of my life — for the confidence I have gained, the friends I have made, and the change I know I will make.” -Eva, 14, NY

“This camp has helped me feel so confident and empowered. As someone who has struggled feeling confident and worthy, this camp changed my whole life. Going home I will be focusing on combatting the unrealistic harmful view on body image as well as gender roles by helping middle schoolers and others feel good.” -Ashley, 16, Oregon

“YEA Camp was an amazing experience for me. I have acquired the skills that I need to change the world for the good. I used to be shy and did not want to speak up, but YEA Camp has taught me to speak up. I feel good about myself, like I can change the world.” -Angel, 12, Oregon

“YEA Camp has been an amazing and life-changing experience for me. I have had so much support and learned so many things about important issues such as animal rights, LGBTQ rights, sexism, racism, and gender identities…. I am so incredibly thankful for all that I have learned and experienced at this camp.” -Carolyn, 14, California

Most Importantly, What Campers Have Done:

SO MUCH! We love to celebrate our campers’ many accomplishments! Here is just a small sampling of the things our campers have told us they have done in the short time since camp ended.

• Many campers have gone leafleting for their first time ever, passing out flyers on causes they care about. They have reported having great experiences! Here, Maya and Luzia met up to pass out leaflets about reproductive choice, vegetarianism, and their favorite presidential candidate: Bernie Sanders. Five other campers met up at a talk Bernie Sanders gave and passed out leaflets there!
• Orianna, 14, from a conservative part of California, reached out to a former teacher who has agreed to allow her to teach his elementary students a 20-minute class once a week on gender roles! She is bringing in toys, asking them which are for boys and which are for girls and why, having them analyze media, and having them learn about and deconstruct stereotypes.

• 

  Twelve-year-old Zinn testified at an Oregon Department of Agriculture hearing to oppose the  expansion of dairies in the state.

• Seven YEA Campers joined in a huge protest at the zoo to advocate for elephants.
• A group of YEA Campers from NY are fundraising for Farm Sanctuary’s annual Walk for Farm Animals, and all together campers from around the country have fundraised over $2,000!

THANK YOU.

Getting to actually spend the summer at YEA Camp in such a space of inspiration and community is such a joy — and it would not be possible without the efforts and contributions of so many people.

To all of our amazing campers, THANK YOU for being your amazing selves! You inspire all of us that our world can change and is changing for the better!

To our campers’ parents and families, THANK YOU for trusting us with your children and supporting their efforts to change the world!

To our incredible staff, THANK YOU for everything you did — from helping a camper with their action plan to doing the dishes — to make this summer so incredible.

To everyone who donated money toward our scholarship funds and operations, THANK YOU for making it possible for us to exist and to help so many young leaders along on their path.

To all of the companies who donated incredible food, THANK YOU for helping us eat so well, and for your contributions that made it possible for us to keep our costs down so we could accept campers on scholarship who otherwise wouldn’t be able to have the opportunity to attend.

To everyone who volunteered their time in any way, the organizations and individuals who helped spread the word about YEA Camp, offered advice or kind words of support, THANK YOU. You help us keep going when things feel hard.

We will be announcing our 2016 dates and plans in the coming months, but in the meantime, THANK YOU for everything you do to make our world a better place!

With so much appreciation,

Nora + Team YEA Camp

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