The Importance of Campership

“Glen Brook gave me my picture of the ideal world. It’s how I know how good the world can be, and why I want to go out and do work that makes the world look more like Glen Brook.”  

-Camper and staff alum

I’ve thought a lot about the above comment from last summer, particularly because this camper attended through our full scholarship partnership through the 1199 union for all his years as a camper. Without our campership fund he never would have had a picture of his ideal world.

Each year we raise money for our campership fund because we believe that a diverse and accessible Glen Brook is the best possible version of this special place.  Many of our programs focus on teaching environmental stewardship. While this has always been a focus at Glen Brook, accessibility is also a core component of sustainability. UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) has developed a framework for sustainability that includes clean and affordable energy alongside reducing inequality.  Enabling children from families with less purchasing power to attend Glen Brook is intricately tied to our sustainable future.

When a diverse group of young people live together for three weeks – cleaning their cabin, going on wilderness trips, resolving conflicts, learning life-skills, and enjoying all that New England has to offer – seeds are planted for a lifetime of connecting with one’s natural surroundings, developing compassion for others, and understanding the value of engaging with people from varied backgrounds and opinions. Accessibility is fundamental to the impact of the Glen Brook experience. 

We’ll soon be sharing more specifics about our plans to build a solar array, and inviting our community to support the project philanthropically. By building our solar field with our community’s generous support, it will generate not only 100% of our electricity, but we will invest the $20,000 per year that we save on electric costs into the campership fund in perpetuity.

As you consider supporting this historic project, as well as our annual need for campership dollars, I invite you to picture the countless young people whose picture of the “ideal world” awaits them here at Glen Brook. Many of those campers can only attend due to our community-supported campership fund, and there are no words to sufficiently convey our gratitude to each person who provides that support each year.

Sincerely,
Mark Stehlik
Executive Director