We held the second session of YEA Camp for Adults at Woodstock Farm Sanctuary in New Paltz, New York.

Here are some of the highlights from YEA Camp 2019.

Our 11th Summer

This was our 11th summer hosting YEA Camp for teens ages 12 – 17 and we are so grateful for the opportunity to work with these inspiring young people. 

Our first youth camp was held at Nature’s Classroom in Charlton, Massachusetts from July 13 – 20. Our second youth camp was held at Camp Buckhorn in Idyllwild, California from August 3 – 10. 

We had around fifty campers at each youth session representing two dozen states and three countries. 

From June 30 – July 6, 22 campers from 12 states stayed with us at Woodstock Farm Sanctuary in New Paltz, New York for the second ever session of YEA Camp for Adults. From yoga in the morning to meeting with farmed animals after lunch, from workshops on gender and race to trainings on communication and fundraising, our campers had the perfect mix of self-care and reflection while also learning valuable skills to help advance their activism.

We love our YEA Camp Massachusetts staff!

Between the three sessions of camp, we were so blessed to have 35 amazing staff members from 16 different states.

Our Impact

Juan Antonio Nelson is an Iowa college student who flew all the way to New York to attend adult camp. When asked about the experience, he said, “Without YEA Camp, I wouldn’t feel that I could make a difference in my immediate community. I wouldn’t have the courage to stand up for others. If not for YEA Camp, I wouldn’t have met a strong community of activists who are passionately advocating for what they believe in.”

A few months ago, former YEA Camper and current YEA staff member Ananya Singh was featured on the Perennials Podcast. In the podcast, Ananya says, “When I was 12 years old, the summer before eighth grade, I attended this summer camp called Youth Empowered Action and this is a camp for teen activists and it really was a life changing experience for me. It exposes you to so many different social issues that are going on in the world and kind of takes the approach of intersectionality and showing how all of these issues are so interconnected and then really breaking down what is possible for young people to do.”

YEA Camp staff member Ananya Singh in action at the Morristown, New Jersey Climate Strike

We also recently shared the story of former YEA Camper Leah Kelly who FIVE years after attending camp, wrote this blog post where she says, “Five and a half years ago, as a 15-year-old, I attended Youth Empowered Action (YEA) Camp for the first time and my life was changed immeasurably. I can’t imagine how different my life would have been from then on had I not spent that pivotal week learning what it means to be an effective agent of change and forming lasting connections that supported, and continue to support me as I navigate a chosen path of social justice and fighting for what I believe in.”

Our Brand New Program

This year, we also launched the first-ever YEA Camp Volunteer-a-thon. The Volunteer-a-thon was created to encourage our community in service and activism while raising money for the YEA Camp Scholarship Fund. 

Dima Bischoff-Hashem created an awesome Volunteer-a-thon project supporting her Issue of Importance, animal rights!

Participants created donor pages, shared what activism they would be working on, and asked their loved ones to “sponsor” them in their work. You can read more about three of our camper’s projects at this link and click here to read what one camper wrote about the experience. 

All funds raised through the Volunteer-a-thon go towards the YEA Camp Scholarship Fund which makes camp accessible for all who want to attend. 

This year, 51 of our 100 participants received financial aid and 17 of those campers were on full scholarships. Overall, we funded $66,400 of financial aid this year.  

Our Gratitude

We cannot say thank you enough to everyone who made camp possible. From our food donors to our staff to our donors, thank you. 

Helping ourselves to vegan pizza with Miyoko’s Cheese and more toppings than we can count!

Thanks to two generous donors, we also have a special opportunity through the end of the year. All donations given before the end of the year will be TRIPLED. Click here to learn more and to donate to our Scholarship Fund. 

Every year at YEA Camp, we have the privilege of meeting passionate and activated changemakers who are taking the world by storm. We feel so grateful to be a part of their story and look forward to supporting you in making a bigger difference on the causes you care most about, too!

See You Next Summer

Do you want to experience YEA Camp for yourself next summer, or know someone who would love to join us? 

We are eagerly preparing for 2020 and are excited to offer an Early Bird special registration for $250 off those who sign up before the end of the year. Do you know someone who would be great for YEA 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)

See you next summer!

The post Thank You for Another Great Year of YEA appeared first on YEA Camp.

We’re inspired to share these responses with you and hope you will keep them in mind as we reach out to our community to ask for the financial support to be able to continue offering YEA Camp for everyone who wants to attend. All donations made until the end of the year will be tripled by two generous donors!

If Not for YEA Camp…

YEA Camper Sarah Goody has become a leading activist in the national #climatestrike campaign, having led strikes in the Bay Area for more than 20 weeks! Sarah said “If not for YEA Camp, I would not have the courage and confidence to take action. YEA Camp provided me with the fundamentals of activism that were crucial to getting me to where I am today. YEA Camp changed the way I saw the world.” (OK, we can retire now!)

Now that YEA Camp runs camps for adults, we are thrilled to be able to make an impact for folks 18 and up! Juan Antonio Nelson, a college student who attended YEA Camp for Adults last year, said: “Without YEA Camp, I wouldn’t feel that I could make a difference in my immediate community. I wouldn’t have the courage to stand up for others. If not for YEA Camp, I wouldn’t have met a strong community of activists who are passionately advocating for what they believe in. I wouldn’t have had the courage to organize a film screening with my fraternity that speaks about toxic masculinity. I wouldn’t have had the courage to organize an open dialogue/forum with other males on my college campus to speak about masculinity and what we can do to solve the problem.” We need more Juan Antonios!

Hannah Rosenberg was a camper as a 17-year-old and this summer returned as a college student 2 years later to be one of our assistant chefs. We love having former campers join us on staff! Hannah said “If not for YEA Camp, I wouldn’t realize the potential every single person has to make a difference. I now have an improved confidence to take action and to be an outspoken example for the changes I wish to see in the world.”

Elise Buellesbach has been on fire since attending YEA Camp this summer, meeting with her Congressional representatives and advocating for stronger requirements for food labeling, which are extra important for people like her with serious food allergies — a topic she educated us all about at YEA Camp this summer! Elise said “If not for YEA Camp, I would not have been reminded of the other people who are also passionately working for change on a daily basis, as well as felt inspired to continue to work for a better tomorrow.”

Fifteen-year-old Esmee Halsted came all the way from Colorado to our camp in Massachusetts last year, and we’re so glad she did! “If not for YEA Camp, I don’t think I would have realized my full potential. The incredibly supportive people and environment at YEA Camp was the first time I ever felt comfortable being 100% myself. I guess you could say it was the first time I was ‘loud and proud.’ I was never judged, always included, and free to communicate in the way that is uniquely me.”

Another participant at our YEA Camp for Adults last year, Brianna Quezada told us that “If not for YEA Camp, I would not be aware of most of the problems that don’t directly affect me and the different things I can do to not only raise awareness, but to also implement changes.”  We love that so many adults have gotten similar value from attending YEA Camp for Adults as our teen campers have! YEA Camp’s curriculum focuses on developing knowledge, skills, confidence, and community, and most people regardless of age, unfortunately, haven’t learned these things in school, college, or elsewhere, which is why we started YEA Camp for Adults in the first place!

Danielle Holtz was a camper at age 17 and in the 5 years since then, she has held just about every role we have and even other ones that we created just for her or that she created herself! She’s been a counselor-in-training, counselor, Operations Manager, blog editor, intern, Youth Advisory Board member, and founder of the youth fundraising and publicity teams.

Danielle says that “If not for YEA Camp, I wouldn’t understand the issues that are so important to changing society, nor would I have met many of my best friends.” We at YEA Camp don’t want to contemplate the question “If not for Danielle.”

YEA Camp has the most amazing staff, and we love that they get a lot of value from their experience as well! (We’ll start hiring after the new year, if you’re interested!) One of our awesome chefs from this past summer, Shira Golan, shared that if not for YEA Camp, “I wouldn’t have met such amazing, likeminded and passionate people and probably would never have learned to cut correctly (thanks Jeri :)” Ha ha! We are glad Shira learned a lot at YEA Camp — we sure enjoyed her cooking!

Now 18-year-old Lily Unverzagt, who is an advocate for access to mental health services and equality and positivity for the LGBTQ community, told us that “If not for YEA Camp, I would have given up on myself and others, so thank you YEA Camp for everything you have done for me and all my fellow campers.”

How inspiring are these stories?! They motivate us to keep at it and continue to make YEA Camp the most effective program we can and available to as many people as possible. 

Help us Bring YEA Camp to More Activists

Now through the end of the year, you can help us impact even more lives through the YEA Camp scholarship fund. Last year, 51 of our 100 campers were on some form of financial aid, and 17 of them were on a full scholarship. At YEA Camp, we stand by our values of accessibility and want to make sure that anyone who wants to be at camp can be at camp. We can only do that with your help, though.

We are thrilled that when you make a tax-deductible contribution to YEA Camp between now and the end of the year, your donation will be TRIPLED thanks to the generous support of two of our most committed donors. To donate, just go to YEACamp.org/donate and the donation will automatically be matched! We are so grateful for your support.

Join us at YEA Camp

Do you want to experience YEA Camp for yourself next summer, or know someone who would love to join us?

We recently announced our 2020 dates with an Early Bird special registration for $250 off those who sign up before the end of the year. Do you know someone who would be great for YEA 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)

Every year at YEA Camp, we have the privilege of meeting passionate and activated changemakers who are taking the world by storm. We feel so grateful to be a part of their story and look forward to supporting you in making a bigger difference on the causes you care most about, too!

The post We Asked Our Campers to Finish This Sentence appeared first on YEA Camp.

I had never been to sleep-away camp. Even as a child, the thought of spending a week with strangers in an environment tailor-made for sharing and vulnerability made me nervous and fearful.

But I’ve spent this past year trying to reorient my life towards service and acts of good. I became involved in local Planned Parenthood activist groups, and learned about effective organizing and volunteership. I have always been committed to social change, but in our current timeline of such extreme terror coming from what feels like every direction, I struggled to stay tuned in to it all. I struggled to see where I may fit, how I could best contribute and though I am ashamed to admit it, these feelings overwhelmed me, sometimes leading me to do nothing but sit at home cloaked in anxiety.

I was desperate to find a productive channel for my fears, to not be paralyzed by our current situation, most importantly to make a real difference, no matter how small.

It was my partner who told me to give YEA Camp a try. She arrived home from work excited about an ad she saw on Facebook for an activist training camp for adults, sure that this would be a great opportunity for me.

I was more skeptical, immediately worried about how I would make connections in this environment and scared that I didn’t have the credentials to seem legit amongst other activists. I recognized the anxiety cloak settling in, and realized that was reason enough to apply.

I was pretty certain that this camp experience would be cost-prohibitive to me anyway, so with that safety blanket I began to poke around the YEA Camp website, content to say that I had given it thought, but wouldn’t be able to go anyhow.

Then I saw that YEA Camp offers a sliding scale on the honor code for anyone who wants to participate. It was in this moment that I realized camp was going to live up to its social justice ideals, and I had no excuse left but to push myself out of my comfort zone and give it a shot.

After packing my bags and squeezing my dogs goodbye, my partner and I drove the 30 minutes to Woodstock Farm Sanctuary, laughing the whole way about how genuinely nervous I was to spend time with people who would, in all likelihood, actually understand me!

The New York session of YEA Camp takes place in a truly idyllic setting, replete with baby pigs, friendly cows, free land to roam, and a night sky full of stars.

I was expecting camp to be made up mostly of locals, people like me, who could drive up and get dropped off, but quickly came to see that I was the only Hudson Valley camper. Almost everyone else had traveled from far away to take part. Arizona, California, Illinois and Texas were represented amongst campers.

The atmosphere was immediately friendly, relaxed, caring and compassionate. We were implicitly invited to be children again, to introduce ourselves and connect with strangers in a way that is almost impossible to find as an adult.

There are plenty of adult summer camps, but YEA Camp is special.

Most of the other adult summer camps I’ve found center almost exclusively on socializing and drinking, giving adults the freedom to play and party and meet people like we dreamed of as teens. But YEA Camp contained a mission. We came to learn and to grow, to develop the toolkit necessary to be the activists we want to be, to be the activists that the world needs right now. I found that this mission lessened my social anxiety because I knew that if nothing else, we were all passionate enough to show up to a week long (pretty intense) learning retreat.

The YEA Camp experience was filled with joy, and its fair share of sorrow and confusion. The experience was not without its challenges for staff or campers. As most activist spaces are imperfect, so was ours, but what many activist spaces lack — transparency in leadership and a commitment to non-violent communication — YEA Camp had in troves. We dealt with tensions regarding how to best navigate our personal identities and privileges, and while these tensions exist everywhere in the real world, out there we are taught to ignore them, to put our heads down and shoulder on. Yet, at camp, we were able to collectively decide to talk about these things. To confront what made us uncomfortable, what may have pushed us away from being brave in the past.

When we realized our collective stake in this experience, we also realized our shared ability to be honest, to try communicating in an ideal way, without the fears and anxieties that make us too timid to share our truths in the real world.

A space like an adult summer camp is almost necessarily experimental. YEA Camp accepted the fact that we don’t always know the best way to approach challenges and integrated the campers into this experience.

During the day I was learning about grassroots techniques and lobbying, and in the evening, I was getting a first-hand lesson in how to run an organization with integrity and heart. I was shown how to find strength in vulnerability, by bearing witness to a dedicated team of staff who were the first to admit that they didn’t have all the answers either.

Our world is scary right now. For many of us, this world has been scary for a long time, and the escalation of our fears can quickly drive us into isolation, into small safe spaces, secured from the outside world.

I wanted to find a community, a reason to extend myself into the places I was scared of, an opportunity to connect with other people who felt the same. I found this, and more at YEA Camp.

I was sustained daily through the work of talented vegan chefs who were integrated into our community. I was sustained through an environment that encouraged all people to ask questions. I was sustained because I was shown that long after camp ended, we would still have each other to rely on. And it is true. When I am scared, sad, when I worry that I am being ineffective, now I have the wherewithal to pick myself up. To remind myself that small steps are still steps, and the world needs more changemakers.

If you are scared, you are not alone. If you are scared and want to work anyway, YEA Camp is the place for you.

You will harness your ability and meet and connect with people that remind you of all the goodness we still have left.

Deciding to go to YEA Camp 2019 was one of the most important decisions I made this year.

I left not only with a revitalized sense of commitment to the causes I care about, but the tools to make my commitment more impactful. And perhaps most importantly, I left full with a current of hope where there had only been doubt, with a sense of possibility, and the want to reconnect to myself.

Maggie Berke is a postpartum doula invested in the fight for comprehensive reproductive justice. She has a background in LGBT+ advocacy and education, and currently spends her days surrounded by dogs and babies in the Hudson Valley. In her free time, she is writing poetry or participating in theatre projects. You can find her @goldenhourpostpartum and @maybemaggiewill on Instagram. 

Interested in joining us for a future session of YEA Camp for youth or adults? Join our email list or follow us on Facebook or Instagram so we can let you know when we announce our locations and dates for next summer!

The post Saying Yes To YEA Summer Camp for Adults appeared first on YEA Camp.

Even if you’re lucky enough not to be targeted directly, just watching the news or even our social media feeds these days bring a daily assault on so many issues progressives care about: human rights and equality, environmental protection, animal welfare, and the state of our democracy and our discourse, for starters.

How do we cope without burying our heads in the sand?

“Self-care” has become a popular topic in recent years, but it wasn’t a term I had even heard of when I started out as an activist 20 years ago. I recently recognized that, without consciously planning it, I’ve been using some key strategies that have helped me keep going all these years, though they’re a bit different than what folks normally think of when we think of self-care. In addition to the basics that most of us know (though may not necessarily do), like eating healthy, exercising, meditation, and getting enough sleep, choosing our approach to activism and how we engage with the problems in our world can help us use our time strategically and avoid burning out.

At Youth Empowered Action (YEA) Camp, a summer camp for social change, we have expanded our focus on self-care since the 2016 election. This year we will host our second year of YEA Camp for Adults as well, and we will make even more time for this. We will do yoga and journaling and meditation, yes, and we will also focus on how we can do activism in ways that not only make a big difference in the world but also sustain ourselves. We’ll also have time in nature and the opportunity to visit with rescued animals at the sanctuary we will be staying at. But I digress….

Here are 10 approaches to self-care that might support you in your journey as an activist and human.

1. Resist

So many YEA Campers have been speaking out against this administration.

It might seem like doing activism is not a form of self-care or is even the opposite of self-care, but resisting harm is self-preservation and helps us know we are taking action on what matters to us.

When your house is on fire, it’s hard to go take a bubble bath. We need to sound an alarm and put out the fires.

“Activism is the antidote to despair,” said Joan Baez, and taking action can not only bring about change but also keeps us action-oriented so we can protect ourselves and our community and don’t feel helpless.

While social justice issues are very interconnected, to avoid overwhelm, at YEA Camp we recommend focusing on one main issue, what we call your IOI, or issue of importance. Nobody can solve any of the major problems of the world alone, but all of our actions add up to make a cumulative difference. Taking breaks and pacing yourself as needed for you and your life are key.

To get more involved in activism opposing this administration, connect with Indivisible, sign up with 5 Calls to call your legislators, or get involved with any of the many organizations working to bring about social justice.

2. Focus on other types of activism you enjoy or can easily accomplish to see an in-person, real-time impact.

There is so much we can all do in our communities to make a difference.

Resistance activism is playing defense, stopping something bad from happening. As important as that currently is, it’s also difficult and exhausting, and a “victory” just means stopping something terrible.

We also need to proactively find ways to make good things happen. This can include volunteering at a local shelter or community organization, doing a neighborhood cleanup, teaching people what you know, or greening your school or office.

Is there a way to combine something you love to do with a cause you believe in? Or a way you could get involved that doesn’t involve convincing sold-out politicians to change their policies?

It’s also empowering to recommit to daily actions that you have direct control over. Think driving less, eating fewer animal products, boycotting harmful companies, buying less stuff, and speaking up in oppressive situations. Knowing that we are doing these daily things can help us feel OK about taking the time off we need. Try to bring humor, lightness, and joy to counter the stress associated with the issues we’re working to address.

3. Think of yourself in a larger activism context.

You don’t need to get your PhD in Social Change, but just learning about how change has happened in the past can reframe our thinking in a more long-term context. It can be humbling to realize just how many actions it takes to cumulatively bring about systemic change, and to recognize that none of us can ever do “enough.” That also frees us up to pace ourselves. Even though we may not see big results right away, each small step adds up. Two short videos about the gay rights movement and civil rights movement serve as a reminder that all of the actions so many people took led to big change.

4. Donate money.

If you’re feeling depleted or demoralized about the state of the world, a donation is essentially paying someone else to do the work that you’re not able to do. And giving not only does good, it makes us feel good — and activism that combines doing good with feeling good is a win-win that we should do as much as we can. Even better that it only takes a minute and then you can go do whatever you need to do.

Even if you are not in a good financial situation at the moment, since you’re reading this, you can probably donate $1. Maybe $10 or $100? Or more, if you can. Choose an organization doing good work (here are many we recommend), and then commission them (or us) to do more of it while you take time to do what you need to do.

5. Follow just the right amount of the right news.

As activists, we want to be generally aware of what is going on — sometimes it can be more stressful not to know — but you don’t need to know intimate details of every horrible thing happening in the world each day. Learn just enough of what you need to know for the activism you will be doing. Some specific tips:

• Remove any news apps from your phone and disable news notifications.
• Give yourself a time limit of the amount of time you can spend on the news or social media each day. Monitor it so it doesn’t get out of hand.
• Ask yourself: Do I really need to know the details of this? What will I do with this information? Will this help me to make a bigger difference, or make me feel more demoralized?
• Sometimes we need to laugh instead of cry. Watching Alec Baldwin’s dead-on Saturday Night Live performances, and critiques from Seth Myers, Trevor Noah, Samantha Bee, or Stephen Colbert can be as gratifying as a bubble bath. In fact, there’s actually reason to believe that satire is better equipped to critique Trump than mainstream news.

6. Build community and ask for what you need

Some of our community at YEA Camp for Adults

OK, enough about activism. We need to reach out and create tighter community than we’ve had before. We’ve currently got a perfect storm of disconnection. While so many of us communicate more with our friends by typing than talking, we also are more likely than older generations to move far away from our families and to be single later in life. Statistically, we’re less involved in community organizations, whether it be religious or civic, and we are less likely to know our neighbors. And there’s an all-out assault on just about every community of people, animals, and the planet who are not straight white men.

We need to know that we can count on others when we need it, and we will feel good to do the same for others. So meet your neighbors, try going to local events, maybe find a MeetUp, talk to people you come in contact with, connect with like-minded people through social media, and be in better touch with your expanding circle of friends and family. If you need help, there are resources to support you even in the most dire of circumstances.

At YEA Camp, we focus on giving campers the knowledge, skills, confidence, and community to make a bigger difference on their cause when they get home. We believe that being a part of a like-minded and dedicated community makes all of us stronger advocates. We want to be your cheerleader!

7. Manage your life and take care of yourself in ways that are right for you.

Typically, when we think of self-care, we may picture a spa day or yoga class, and these, of course, can be great. But we need to go deeper to assess what we can do to fully take care of ourselves.

In some ways, we all need the same basic things as a baseline, such as eating healthy food, access to clean drinking water, getting exercise, sleeping enough, safe shelter, and nourishing relationships. So many people, especially of lower income, are not getting these basic needs met.

• Evaluate different areas of life that cause you anxiety, from work stress to health issues to your home, relationships, or finances, and start dealing with the most critical ones.
• Get more rigorous doing what you need to do because taking care of ourselves is a precursor to taking care of others.
• Tackle unhealthy and develop healthy habits and practices as directly as possible to take care of yourself and your one precious life.

From stopping smoking to getting check-ups to paying bills on time, healing your relationships to pursuing your goals, or otherwise “adulting,” you are in charge of managing your life. When you don’t do it well, other things start to suffer, including your activism.

As activist hero Audre Lorde said, “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.”

8. Figure out and do what you love.

YEA Camp for Adults is held at Woodstock Farm Sanctuary.

To stay in this for the long haul, we need to find ways to enjoy our lives, do the things we love, and step away from stressful situations when we need to. Many people are either not clear about what they truly enjoy doing, and many more are clear that they don’t spend much time doing what they love.

If you love to read or write or play music or be outdoors, make time to do that, even if it’s just for a few minutes a day or an hour or two a week.

One of my favorite things about our YEA Camp for Adults is that it is held at Woodstock Farm Sanctuary, which provides sanctuary and some animal friends to visit with while we are there as well. Animals have an innocence and gentleness that can be an antidote to stress and help restore our energy and feeling of unconditional love.

At YEA Camp, we combine the seriousness of activism training with fun activities to model sustainable activism.

9. Pursue fun and challenging hobbies and distract yourself as needed.

Pursuing challenging hobbies is a great way to trick your brain to take a break from what it was worrying about so that it can focus on the matter at hand. Studying a new language, learning a musical instrument, creating art, dancing, reading novels, playing games, and any sort of vigorous exercise are great for this. Find something you really enjoy that gets your mind off of things, and have that be your go-to when you need it.

10. Feel your emotions — the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Our compassion and empathy has led us to become activists for change, but these emotions can sometimes overwhelm us. We are not robots and cannot go numb. We also need to live our lives and enjoy the beauty and possibility that we can create in life.

Being guided by a healthy relationship to our emotions will not only help us as individuals, it will help us as activists. We’ve got to feel the good, the bad, and the ugly. That might mean crying when we need to, journaling, talking things through with friends, or seeing a therapist. It can mean being quiet and meditating or going out in nature to unplug. It also means being grateful for the countless privileges and opportunities, friends, experiences, and beauty in life. When we don’t run away from our emotions, we can run toward what we want.

Finding ways to celebrate the positives and to fully experience joy might feel difficult at times in the context of all the suffering in the world and the harm being done by the Trump administration, but cultivating happiness and gratitude, and fully appreciating the good in life can help rejuvenate us to get through harder times.

Join us this summer!

It’s been said that activism is a marathon and not a sprint. We need to find ways to show up as activists as best we can in the short term, but we also need to recognize when we need to step back, especially if we are from a community that is more at risk, when we are going through personal struggles, or when we know that we are pushing ourselves too hard or not getting our own needs met.

When the government doesn’t take care of its people, we need to work extra hard to take care of ourselves, each other, and animals and the planet too. Each of us has an important role to play in bringing about the change we wish to see in the world.

For more tips on strengthening your change-making abilities, download YEA Camp’s free ebook, The Beginner’s Guide to Changing the World. Want to see how we integrate self care with leadership training at camp? Join us this summer at YEA Camp for teens or YEA Camp for Adults.

About the Author: Nora Kramer is the Founder and Director of YEA Camp. She is a long time activist who practices self-care by swimming, playing with her dog, Daiya, and eating vegan ice cream sundaes.

The post A Different Approach to Self-Care for Activists in the Age of Trump appeared first on YEA Camp.

Youth Empowered Action (YEA) Camp was founded in 2009 to teach young people age 12 – 17 how to make a bigger difference on causes they care about. After years of people asking, in 2018, YEA Camp expanded to offer a session for the 18+ crowd. YEA Camp for Adults was born.

YEA Camp for Adults is hosted at Woodstock Farm Sanctuary in High Falls, New York and is the perfect combination of leadership conference, self-care retreat, and activism training all set to the playful and relaxing scene of summer camp.

But what is it really like to attend summer camp as an adult? Just ask Martina Gauderer, a 2018 camper.

The Inside Scoop on Adult Summer Camp

“YEA Camp for Adults exceeded my expectations in all the best possible ways. I only wish I’d been a camper 20 some years ago! As a 35-year-old with almost zero camp experience as a kid, I was delighted by all the FUN camp activities (games, dance parties, talent show, etc). It made me feel like a kid – energized and excited!

But most importantly, this camp planted seeds and gave me practical tools to take my activism to the next level. Even the most seasoned activist (I’ve been involved in various causes, campaigns, etc. for most of my adult life) can get A LOT out of the workshops and presentations offered by the camp. Perhaps most important were the activities based on confidence and community building.

As I zoned in on the issues that were most important to me as an activist, I felt lifted up, supported, and encouraged in a way I never have before in activist circles. I came away with a strong community that still keeps in touch!

Here’s Martina looking at the rescued animals in the field at Woodstock Farm Sanctuary

During camp, I was able to create a roadmap of strategy and goals that addressed my issue of importance. Campers zone in on their issue over the week. My issue of importance is something I carried with me well after camp. It has since lead me (even the most introverted of people) to build a strong activist community in my daily life, starting projects and creating real, tangible change.

Truly, I cannot speak highly enough of YEA Camp, Nora Kramer (the founder) and all of the wonderful staff! Best of all? YEA Camp for Adults is at one of the most wonderful places on earth, Woodstock Farm Sanctuary! It’s the perfect setting to inspire and create change.

Plus, the food is off the charts!! I’m forever a supporter of this incredible LIFE CHANGING camp for WORLD CHANGING people!”

Are You Ready for Summer Camp?

Are you looking for an inspiring and meaningful way to spend your summer? It’s not too late to register for YEA Camp for Adults 2019. And, of course, if you know a 12-17-year-old who wants to know how they can do more to make our world a better place, YEA Camp’s youth camp is the place to be!

The post What Summer Camp for Adults Really Looks Like appeared first on YEA Camp.