Hello! My name is Phoenix Turner, and I am 12 years old. I went to the first ever virtual winter YEA Camp. 

My IOI was anti-racism. Through camp I was taught so many ways to be a better activist and changemaker. The workshops this week were not just factual, but also fun. This camp has been a great experience I could never forget (nor would I want to). I have made great friends at camp that I hope to stay in touch with. 

Not only am I very passionate about anti-racism, but I am passionate about LGBTQ+ equality, climate change, mental health and animal rights, with many more in between. I have been wanting to go vegetarian for a long time, but I haven’t had the courage to ask my parents to let me. Through camp and making friends who are already vegan and vegetarian, I gained the courage to ask my parents, and they said yes! 

YEA Camp has made such a big impact on my life, and it will for other young activists too. There are so many things to learn at camp to not only help you be a better activist but to help you through life. I would 10/10 recommend YEA Camp to changemakers. If you want to make a change in your world and community, come to YEA camp!

We absolutely loved having Phoenix and all of our amazing campers at our first-ever winter session of YEA Camp!  They’ve given us so much inspiration and lots of ideas for the future. We’re going to be developing more virtual programming, and we’d love to hear from you if you’re interested! You can reach out to us in the chat box or through our Contact page.  Follow us on Instagram or Facebook for all our latest updates!

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When we at YEA Camp recognized that we would need to cancel our in-person camps, we knew we weren’t going to sit this summer out.

We wanted to create something new to support so many young people wanting help to make a bigger difference on issues related to racism and police brutality, as well as many other issues our society has been struggling with long before we ever heard the word “coronavirus.”

YEA Campers are passionate about opposing racism as well as other social justice issues like climate change, LGBTQ equality, animal rights, mental health, gun control, poverty, and other pressing needs — and we were thrilled to be able to reimagine what we do at our in-person camps to create Virtual YEA Camp to help more than 100 teens and tweens on their change-making path.

Differences Between In-Person and Virtual YEA Camp

After more than a decade of running in-person camps, our planning team spent 2 months developing our approach to bring the best of what we do into a totally different virtual format.

YEA Camp’s curriculum is based on building knowledge about problems and solutions, skills to take effective action, confidence to believe in yourself and get out of your comfort zone, and community to know you’re supported and not alone. And that’s just what we did at Virtual YEA Camp.

While of course we love being together in-person, and there are certain things built into our regular curriculum that are tougher or impossible to do virtually, we found ways to incorporate new activities into our online program, including many we’re not normally able to do in person.

We had 4 sessions of Virtual YEA Camp. The first, World Changing 101, introduced basic ideas of privilege, 3 levels of activism we can do (individual, community, and institutional), and basics of campaigns and advocacy. In the second session, Exploring the Issues, we focused each day on a different social justice issue to learn more about it and the advocacy we can do to make a difference on that cause. Our third week, Amplifying Your Message, was all about skill-building, and we focused on improving communications skills, taught a workshop on campaign planning, and introduced campers to the basics of political organizing, grassroots advocacy, and social media activism. And finally week 4 was called Careers for Changemakers — a unique look at ways to envision a lifetime of making a difference.

We did virtual visits to 3 different animal sanctuaries, and we were able to have guest speakers that would never normally be able to make the trip to join us in the woods. We had incredible changemakers training our campers in how to make a difference, from social justice journalist Rose Aguilar of “Your Call Radio” to teen activist and youngest-ever TEDx speaker Genesis Butler; from the Institute for Humane Education’s founder Zoe Weil to Plant-Based on a Budget’s Toni Okamoto; President of the San Mateo County, CA, Board of Supervisors Warren Slocum, founder of the Embody Love Movement, Dr. Melody Moore; and so many more.

We had guest speakers who were educators, social entrepreneurs, therapists, chefs, attorneys, social workers, journalists, political organizers, and politicians — all speaking about their career paths, including the good, the bad, and the ugly.

And so many of our speakers were past campers, like Ananya Singh, Sarah Goody, and Elyanna Calle sharing about their environmental activism; Noor Aldayeh sharing about her expertise in social media, Ana Little-Sana advised campers on getting involved in politics, and Julia Clark talked us through the behind-the-scenes of how she successfully led a campaign to get the name of her high school changed from that of a confederate general to Justice High School(!).

Our starstruck campers loved our celebrity guests Daniella Monet and Daisy Fuentes, who both spoke about how they’ve used their platforms to make a bigger difference on causes they care about, how they deal with haters, and building up the courage to find your voice. We had virtual visits to animal sanctuaries; dance and yoga classes led by celebrity teachers; arts activism using Canva to create social media-ready images to share right away; and vegan cooking classes, including one with celebrity chef Eddie Garza, who taught us to make tamales — so good! And we had incredible yoga and dance instructor and choreographer SuzE Q leading classes each week.

All of Our Amazing Staff Members Were All Former Campers!

We also had incredible staff members advising and supporting our campers all the way through. Each one of our counselors — Aine Pierre, Emma Kossoy, Jocelynn Dow, Julia Clark, Liam Davis-Bosch, and Maya Diaz-Villalta — was a former camper themselves and so knew exactly the positive, inspiring, and fun vibe of our in-person camps to help replicate this experience virtually. Advisors Sarah and Miranda hugely helped campers with their CTW challenges and action plans, and Chef Miranda taught us her amazing chocolate chip cookie recipe. Assistant director Andina Aste-Nieto joined us for her 7th(!) summer with us, and her presence makes every YEA Camp better.

Each member of our staff was chosen in part because they have also done a huge amount of activism themselves, especially for their young age. All recent high school graduates or college students, members of our amazing staff have lobbied their Congressional officials, started and run community organizations, launched successful campaigns and initiatives at their schools, and much more.

Leveraging Virtual Format to Make a Bigger Difference

One unique difference between Virtual YEA Camp and our in-person camp was access to technology. Normally we have spotty wifi, a no cell phone policy to keep everyone present and free of distractions, and no computer lab or structure for everyone to have access to the Internet.

As we developed our plans for our Virtual YEA Camp and recognized we’d need to cut some things, we also realized that on the bright side we could incorporate technology in totally new ways that we never have in person to enable campers to work on activist projects together.

Matched with a staff member who has worked on their cause, and in a small group of other campers with the same Issue of Importance (IOI), each camper worked on CTW (Change the World!) projects each week.

Each small group was given assignments for the week to create a social media project to share resources or inspiration for why and how others should get involved in their cause. From reflecting on the Pillars of Support (or underlying reasons) that their issue exists to developing talking points and compiling lists of things people can do to make a difference, campers educated themselves and others about their cause. Their What Is Your Why projects also can be a source of ongoing inspiration to stay present to their passion over the long haul.

They also set group goals to do activism together each week, and then got into action throughout the day, having their small group and counselor for support along the way. Campers identified campaigns they cared about and the decision-makers who needed to be persuaded and made at least 5,533 advocacy calls, emails, and texts for their causes! Whether they called federal or local legislators, multinational corporations, or small businesses in their area, campers made their views heard — requesting charges brought against killer cops, support for eco-friendly policies, vegan food options, and other changes to make our world better.

While many sent texts and emails, we especially encouraged every camper to get over their fear of making calls. Doing role plays and practice calls together,  campers got more comfortable and also discovered that most calls are really short and simple. A one-sentence “Hi, I’m calling to ask you to …” is usually met with a respectful “OK, thanks for calling. I’ll pass that along. Have a nice day” — not arguments about how much a program will cost or questions about specifics they might not have the answers to on the tip of their tongue.

Several campers who got over their fears about making their first call ended up making over 30 calls each in just a few days and plan to include this approach in their future advocacy!

Campers also registered or reminded people in their lives and community to vote in this important upcoming election. In our workshop on politics, we talked about how there are so many ways you can be involved in an election, even if you’re too young to vote.

And campers fundraised! Each small group agreed on an organization working on their IOI and set an ambitious fundraising goal for the week. Some campers were terrified to reach out to people in their life to ask for donations and were inspired to see people they didn’t expect support their fundraisers!

Everybody dealt with some level of rejection or disappointment or anxiety of doing or saying the wrong thing, which are all important parts of activism that we need to get comfortable experiencing and overcoming. Hearing “no” can be really hard, but if we aren’t willing to hear “no” about the causes we believe in and the big changes we want to make, we likely won’t be hearing “yes” either.

In addition to all these group goals and challenges, every camper developed an action plan for how they want to make a difference once camp ended. They chose a cause to focus on, a goal and proposed date to achieve it by, and developed action steps to take along the way.

Many campers, especially those who were with us for multiple sessions, got to work on their plans too.

We know of at least 3 activist-related podcasts launched during YEA Camp, this online petition (please sign!) our amazing camper Rachel created to request climate change education in NY public schools, new social media platforms to raise awareness on different causes, arts activism created to raise awareness, people who went to their first-ever protest, and so much more that we don’t even know about and that will be developed and blossoming in the weeks, months, and years to come.

We couldn’t be more proud of our campers’ accomplishments this summer, and it was such a joy to see their own pride as well!

We’ll remember campers telling us “I FINALLY MADE A CALL!” and having them share about what it took for them to develop the courage to pick up the phone, push the buttons and make the call.

We’ll remember campers’ enthusiasm and pride when they saw people contributing to the online fundraiser their group had created just the day before.

We’ll remember so many campers starting to really see for themselves that they can make a difference, that all of our actions add up, that they are not alone and have a community of people now who support them and care as much as they do about making our world a better place.

And ultimately we’ll remember that we are resilient. That it wasn’t that long ago that YEA Camp was canceled and we had no idea what we might do instead. That we were googling “virtual camp” to find out what that even was — and to then imagine and create our version of what it could be.

That’s what activists do.

And it wouldn’t have been possible without so many of you. Our campers for caring so much and YEA Camp parents for trusting us with your kids. Our incredibly committed staff who made this whole new innovative program possible. Our brilliant speakers who so much of their wisdom and expertise with us. Volunteers involved in so many levels of our work. Our donors who make all of our work possible. And to many cheerleaders who appreciate and share our work. So many of you have been supporting us on this path and helped make this amazing summer possible for us. We are so grateful for all of you!

And now we want to build on our successes from this summer and continue to reinvent what is possible for our work and organization.

Want to know what’s next for YEA Camp? So do we! We have so many ideas and would love your help deciding and prioritizing. Fill out this survey to let us know what you think! And follow us on Facebook and Instagram to keep track of what we’ve got planned next.

The post Youth Activists Make a Big Impact at Virtual YEA Camp appeared first on YEA Camp.

Pizza with Miyoko’s Cheese and “more toppings than we could count!”

One way we practice every day activism is by our food choices at camp.

For some of our campers and our staff, the allure of an all vegan camp is how they heard about us in the first place. For others, our vegan food is just another blurb on the FAQ page. YEA Camp is all about social justice and, at the end of the day, everyone at camp wants to build a more peaceful and sustainable world. That is why YEA Camp is vegan with a heavy focus on fair-trade, organic, and local options. 

The food we choose at the grocery store or out for dinner with friends is one of the simplest acts of every day activism we can do. Because of that, we hire a skilled team of vegan chefs to cook us amazing food that everyone can appreciate. 

This summer, we had some incredible companies donate their plant-based products to help us more affordably showcase the very best in vegan eating. 

Thank you to…

Amy’s Kitchen is a family-owned food company that was organic before “organic” was a national certification. Pioneers of the organic food industry (and maker of endless delicious vegan options), Amy’s has been with YEA Camp since year one and we are so grateful for their support!

Another family-owned business, Butler Foods donated their famous Butler Soy Curls, an all natural alternative to meat. Our chefs traded the traditional Chicken Noodle Soup for “Soy Curl Noodle Soup” for an extra dash of heart-healthy perfection. 

Sometimes we even let campers into the kitchen for baking demos!

Chicago Vegan Foods is a 100% vegan company (did the name give it away?) From their frozen dessert line to their gooey non-dairy cheese to their vegan marshmallows, Chicago Vegan Foods has something for everyone. Thank you Chicago Vegan Foods!

YEA Camp Trivia: Do you know what vegan company Camp Founder & Director Nora Kramer named her rescue dog after? Daiya the dog approves of Daiya Foods and all the “deliciously dairy-free foods” they bring to our camp. You can even find vegan frozen pizzas from Daiya in grocery stores around the country. Yum!

Started in 1970 when four friends “opened a seven-seat soup, salad, and sandwich counter in the back of small natural food store in the San Fernando Valley in Southern California,” Follow Your Heart now offers over 60 dairy-free products in over 25 countries. We are so grateful for their support and their reminder to, “when in doubt, Follow Your Heart.” 

We couldn’t get in line fast enough for this Miyoko’s inspired vegan pizza!

Miyoko’s Kitchen provided us with many a mid-day snack. Their cheese wheels were a hit at every session of camp and we especially love this quote, pulled from their website: “Compassion for animals is at the heart of everything we do. It always has been. It always will be.”

Like Amy’s Kitchen, Tofurky has been a generous support of YEA Camp for eleven years. We even wrote a feature post about them here! Tofurky has been providing us with plant-based protein since our very first session. Truthfully, it wouldn’t feel like camp without them!

We are so lucky to have their support!

YEA Camp would not be nearly as delicious were it not for the support of these awesome companies who are revolutionizing what it means to eat vegan. Campers often tell us that YEA Camp is what propelled them to eat a plant-based diet! What an honor to help our campers become more conscious about their food choices. We are so grateful to have the support of these compassionate companies. Their dedication to making the world a kinder and more ethical place inspires us all.

The time to announce dates for YEA Camp 2020 is coming soon. Be sure to sign up for e-news to make sure you’re the first to know!

The post These Generous Companies Make YEA Camp’s Food Even More Delicious appeared first on YEA Camp.

Hello YEA Family,
Ten years! This year, this month, today, we are celebrating 10 years of YEA Camp! I can’t believe it.

It was 10 years ago in April that I put a $2,000 check in the mail, pulled from my savings, to pay the deposit on our first ever YEA Camp!

I was excited, of course, but more than that, I was terrified. What was I getting myself into? So many things could go wrong. My brain was filled with “what ifs.”

I had a clear vision (though endless details to be worked out) and lots of experience working at camps, teaching, and as an activist, but I had never done anything quite like this before.

Walking down the street to put the check in the mailbox, I still remember thinking “well, hopefully the camp will actually happen, people will come, and I will make this money back. If not, $2,000 is a pretty small amount to risk to try to fulfill my dream and not look back on my life with regrets.” Hopefully! And look at us now!

But before I say anything else, I want to say that whether you have been a camper, parent, volunteer, donor, staff member, advisor, or have held some other relation to our camp family, THANK YOU!

YEA Camp is a culmination of so many incredible people doing so many incredible things. We will be sharing more about some of the people and experiences that helped YEA Camp exist and thrive this past decade. In the meantime, I want to share a personal story and note of appreciation below.

Get half off your registration to YEA Camp until May 1!

But first (just so it doesn’t get buried at the bottom of this post), I want to share that we are offering a special 10-year anniversary thank you gift!

For the next 10 days, we are offering 10 spots at each session for half-off tuition! This applies to each session of camp, including both sessions of our youth camp and YEA Camp for Adults! Just use the code 10YEARS when you register. This will be for the next 10 days, starting today until May 1.

We will also be reflecting on some of our favorite moments over the past 10 years on our Instagram, so follow us there to celebrate with us!

I hope you’ll join us as we embark on decade number 2!

How YEA Camp Came To Be (The Not That Short-ish Version)

People ask me a lot how I started YEA Camp, and my answer really depends on how much time they have.

Anyone who knew me between 2001-2009 knew that I was obsessed with activism and that I was planning to start a camp for aspiring activists someday. And some of them probably even thought it would happen one day! (I had my doubts!)

In 1998, I took an environmental science course that drastically redirected my path, leading me to such a meaningful, rewarding life of activism in many forms in the 2 decades that have followed. It was the activism of that professor, John Andrus, that has led to my own. And that’s the way activism works, isn’t it? One person inspiring and influencing another, who then pays that forward by influencing others.

I didn’t know anyone I really considered an activist. Looking back, I didn’t even know what activism was. I spent the first several years after that sort of stumbling along trying to learn. The more I learned about different social justice issues, the more I realized they were connected to other issues I didn’t know enough about. I wanted to learn as much as I could to help the environment, people, and animals. All I could think to do was to try one thing after another and keep going.

I pursued every training I could find, taking workshops and courses, and going to conferences, teach-ins, and talks. No matter how many books I read or internships and volunteering I did, I wanted to keep learning from as many people as I could. I did trainings in topics as varied as challenging white supremacy to permaculture, communication to education, management to improv.

I spent my 20s doing just about every type of activism I could think of. From leafleting to writing to protests to door-to-door canvassing and political campaigning, I tried to figure out how to make the biggest difference I could and find my place in the world.

Once I knew I wanted to start a camp, I did even more. I got my teaching credential and taught high-school English. Then I spent three years taking and then coaching leadership and communication courses. I even got certified to teach yoga. And I continued doing tons of activism, wanting to become knowledgeable in as many areas as possible. There was always more to learn and more ways to get involved.

It was this mentality that led to the idea for the camp in the first place.

It was 2001 when I started teaching a class called Animals and the Environment at an after-school program. I had been looking for volunteer opportunities on Craigslist, though I didn’t even know what I was looking for. I saw the listing to teach about a topic you’re passionate about that kids might be interested in. Even though I had no teaching experience, this seemed really interesting to me.

Over the years I had found that adults are often jaded or resigned when learning about problems in the world. On the other hand, young people often wanted to learn what they could do about them. I thought I would give it a try. What if I could nurture that naturally compassionate and activist-oriented mindset?

The students loved the class, and I loved teaching it. When parents asked me for suggestions for what their kids could do during the summer, well … the rest is history. (It’s in the longer version of this story.)

I give this backstory as context because so often our paths in life are windy and unfold as we keep going. Sometimes it doesn’t seem like we are even on a path, that we are headed the right way, or that we will ever get to our desired destination — if we even know what that is. If we continue on that path, we sometimes get someplace even more amazing than we could have planned for.

10 years of YEA Camp!!

We may not realize it at the time, but so many people are helping us along the way. Every person and organization I volunteered with, every journalist or author who educated me, even every person who debated and disagreed with me taught me so much in their own way. In fact, it was when I got laid off from my job teaching environmental education that I decided it was the right time to start the camp!

That “path” from when I first decided to start the yet-to-be-named camp to summer number 1 took me 8 years. Eight years to try to become the person I felt I needed to be to start the camp that I felt needed to exist. Eight years to feel confident enough that this program would be worth all the work to make it happen.

At camp, I’ve often shared the story about how scared I was to start YEA Camp, and how long it took me because I think it’s such a powerful lesson. I doubted myself so much, but I didn’t give up. I worked at camps every summer and did trainings for camp directors with the American Camp Association. It finally became clear to me that I had no more excuses and it was time to launch.

The thing I want campers to know is just how long it can take for us to manifest or achieve big projects. From the outside, it might seem like someone else knows what they’re doing and you don’t. Or it might feel like you’re never going to accomplish your plans. The whole time we’re working towards our goals, we might be filled with doubts and insecurities, but if it’s important enough, we need to just keep moving forward. It’s not that when I finally started the camp it’s because I stopped being scared. I had just done the work to prove to myself that I was ready to at least try. But that was only possible because I surrounded myself with people who believed in me — often more than I believed in myself.

Thanks to many people’s encouragement and coaching, in April 2009, I took the leap of faith. I sent my savings to Quaker Center to reserve the venue for our first session and haven’t looked back.

YEA Camp’s First Decade of Making an Impact

Over these 10 years, we have held 29 sessions in the most beautiful locations we could find. We’ve served thousands of vegan meals and led hundreds of workshops. We’ve trained over 700 inspiring young activists from over a dozen countries and most U.S. states. We’ve helped other educators bring social justice education into their classrooms and summer camps, mentored campers throughout the year, and wrote an ebook, The Beginner’s Guide to Changing the World. In 2018, we launched YEA Camp for Adults, the first program of its kind in the country.

We measure YEA Camp’s success by our campers’ accomplishments, though these are impossible to fully measure or list.

YEA Campers have gone on to make huge changes at their schools. Think improving the school’s recycling, having more vegan-friendly cafeteria options, getting rid of the cafeteria’s styrofoam trays, introducing anti-bullying campaigns, launching clubs to enable their peers to get active, changing the school’s racist mascot, and even successfully changing their school’s name. This just scratches the surface.

Campers have worked in their communities on political campaigns for preferred candidates, lobbying their representatives, holding voter registration drives, gathering signatures for ballot measures, testifying at hearings, helping to pass laws, and even gotten a polling place on their campus.

YEA Campers have organized, attended, and spoken at marches around the nation. They have posted about their cause and their activism on social media. They have volunteered their time and raised thousands of dollars for those in need, and on and on.

From feedback we’ve received, maybe the biggest long-term impact of YEA Camp has been on their mindsets. Even years later, so many campers have told us that YEA Camp shifted the way they think about themselves, about the world, and about the impact that one person can have. It gave them practical skills and ideas, like to start and run a great club, as well as the confidence to actually do it. Campers have told us at the end of camp that any activism they do from here on out is thanks to their experience at camp. YEA Camp helps people to get on or continue their own activist path.

How can we quantify this over a lifetime, or even over 10 years? How do we even begin to tell these stories? We’ve been working on it and will keep you posted on that too.

So Many People Have Made YEA Camp Possible

Looking back, the number of people who have helped make YEA Camp what it is today is beautifully overwhelming.

Listing anyone specifically means leaving many more people out. Nevertheless, it’s hard to imagine YEA Camp coming into existence without April Rood, Joshua Rood, Sophie O’Shaugnessy, Alissa Hauser, and Landmark Education’s Team Management & Leadership Program. Ari Nessel has been supporting YEA Camp since it was an idea, and he keeps bringing ideas into fruition. Leanne Alaman, Erin Fields, Luke Janes, Laine Forman, Sharon Smith, Laura Carver, and others helped get that first pilot session off the ground so we could show proof of concept and that this was worth continuing. So much of what we created that session has formed the basis for traditions we still do today.

YEA Camp’s Co-Directors, Nora Kramer and Laura Carver

Laura Carver and her family helped turn me from a “lone nut” into a leader. It was Laura who helped take YEA Camp to other states and who turned my ideas into a curriculum guide.

Laura kept YEA Camp in existence when we had no money and were practically begging campers to come for free. Her amazing husband Jay took on months of single-parenthood in supporting Laura being at camp each summer. Every single thing we do today and in the future, even years after Laura’s been actively working on the camp, Laura deserves credit for.

Yvonne LeGrice stepped in at a difficult time organizationally to help us in so many needed ways when we desperately needed her.

Every member of our staff at camp do so much to make YEA Camp what it is. That means everything from talking with a homesick camper, to washing dishes, to leading a life-changing activity.

Some staff have worked with us for so many sessions we need to look back and add it up to figure out how many. And some even started as campers and became some of the most reliable staff we have.

Aaron Sorto, Amber Canavan, Ananya Singh, Andina Aste-Nieto, Anthony Pizzo, Brian Grupe, Charles Orgbon, Danielle Holtz, Diana Rose Rachel Frances, Drew Wilson, Eileen Botti, Erin McIntosh, Jake Johnson, Jeri Schneider, Leanne Alaman, Lillian Davis-Bosch, Lindsy Coon, Madeleine Lifsey, Mary Beth King, Mike McLendon, Monica Carr, Pierce Delahunt, Pike Long, Salimatu Amabebe, Shelby Kim, and Tammy Kremer are just some of the staff who have had an outsized influence over multiple years of YEA Camp.

We’ve received critical grants from the Ford Foundation, Nature’s Path, and A Well-Fed World, all of which enabled us to take our work to new heights. The Pollination Project and Sacramento Vegetarian Society have sponsored campers to attend, while Mercy For Animals and PETA have been among our loudest cheerleaders.

More than 500(!) people have donated to us — whether through a generous year-end donation or a $10 per month gift. Bobby Rullo, Brian Grupe, Elliot Trexler, Gabe Quash, the Martell Family, Melissa Spitalny, the Nessel and Klempner family, Remy Raquiza, Shannon Durham, and Sophie O’Shaugnessy have generously supported us for years. We literally couldn’t exist without you.

Parents, friends, and people we had never met before have volunteered their time and expertise. Brandon Herman’s incredible pro-bono filmmaking, and endless tech help from Katie Albright, Ed Yaffa, Ezra Aharon, Joshua (who is) Awesome, and Karen Rudy have made a huge difference. April Rood and Emilie McBain designed the first two versions of our YEA Camp website and logos for free! Kimberly Ireland just says yes when I ask for things. There are crews of people who have tabled for us for years in their areas. Special appreciation go to the New England crew of Judy Kelly, Julia Caruk, and Tracy Albernaz. And there are people who have housed us and driven us around and just done whatever random tasks were needed. Alex Davis, Bethany and Scott Davis, Dave Rutan, Jaimsyne Blakeley, and Leslie Kowash have saved us or made life easier many times.

And dozens of companies have donated food to us! Special appreciation go to Amy’s, Miyoko’s, and Tofurky for their years of generous support! Amie Hamlin, Jeri Schneider, and Lauren Scheller-Wolf did an incredible job managing our food donation program, making it possible for us to serve some of the best vegan food on the market affordably.

I’m honored to have gotten to work with such outstanding people, and to help make YEA Camp a thing! None of this would be possible without the tireless support of all of you in our YEA Camp community. For that, I forever thank you.

This list could go on and on. I can’t even begin to wrap my head around it.

Personally, my friends/framily have supported me in so many ways, I can’t even begin. Alon Raab, the Colangelo family, Gabe Quashnofksy, Hazel Kahan, Jaimsyne Blakely, Laura Carver, the Martell family, Melissa Spitalny, and Samantha Carney have literally helped make my life and then YEA Camp after it possible just by having me in their lives. And my parents — well, this post has been long enough, and I know they would be proud.

What we have built together is beautiful, and we are still at it, prepping for summer 2019!

Check our instagram for the rest of the month to see highlights from each year of YEA Camp!

Thank You Thank You And Thank You

As a thank you, to celebrate our 10 year anniversary, we are offering a special discount for this summer! Over the next 10 days, we are offering half-off for 10 spots at each session. Use the code 10YEARS when you register for our youth or adult camps by May 1!

We will also be sharing some of our favorite stories and photos with you. Follow us on Instagram to see our spotlight on one year per day over the next 10 days. You might see some familiar faces!

I am so grateful and proud of what we have accomplished in the last ten years. I hope our impact will be exponentially greater in the decades to come.

Thank you all for helping me make my dream come true.

Nora Kramer
Founder, YEA Camp

The post Celebrating 10 Years of YEA Camp! appeared first on YEA Camp.