Florida Elks Youth Camp

Florida Elks,

I’m happy to report that for the second time since 2019, we were able to host seven full weeks of summer camp. While we did have low numbers of COVID-19 and flu, we were able to screen these cases early and take preventive measures to keep them from spreading. I cannot tell you how great it was to finally be back to a “normal” camp season again.

For summer camp 2024, we filled 2,317 of 2,352 beds. This shortage of 35 unfilled beds was due to cancellations. However, this is a drastic improvement from our 2023 numbers, where we missed 251 beds. So, our deeper waitlist helped significantly. In fact, this was our best summer for registration since our banner year in 2019. Keep up the good work sending kids to camp!

Outside of summer camp, we continue to see record numbers of groups utilizing the camp. Florida’s Muscular Dystrophy Association returned the week after we finished camp to again host their summer camp with us. Children with muscular dystrophy and volunteer staff from across the state came out for a weeklong session of camp. And for the first time in FEYC history, kids who use wheelchairs were able to have a campfire due to our newly installed pathway, which circles our main firepit. We are always honored to have Florida’s MDA at FEYC, and we look forward to partnering with them for a long time to come.

The Children’s Burn Foundation of Florida will also be returning this November. This group has been attending camp at FEYC for more than 17 years and serves children across the state who have severe burn injuries. Finally, we have also just hosted our Florida Elks Children’s Therapy Services back for Family Camp! Last week, families served by our therapists from across Florida traveled to camp for a long weekend of activities and relaxation. It is an amazing opportunity to see both of your major projects in action at once, and I’m sure Colleen will have plenty of pictures and video for you at the midyear convention.

As we fill up with rental groups, we also organize our own camp-run activities as well. Our Extended Camp Leadership Program is in its fourth year and is going strong. Campers who are 13-15 years old (too old to return to summer camp) have the opportunity to meet once a month via Zoom for group meetings with staff and other kids and twice a month via Zoom for one-on-one meetings with our staff. These events are designed to help develop the leadership skills that will one day allow these former campers to become counselors-in-training for us at summer camp.

In support of this program, the Florida Ladies of Elks have once again graciously donated more than $750 in gift cards. This was after FLOE’s monetary donations of more than $30,000 to the youth camp in general. I am continually in awe of what our Elks and Ladies of Elks do for the kids of Florida. Thank you, ladies!

If you haven’t been to the youth camp in a while, now is a great time to take a tour. The Grafton Center arena recently got a new floor with a new look, the Smith Center lobby has received a much-needed update, and the building that has served as our main kitchen at the pavilion is being knocked down as you read this. This last one is the most dramatic change we have had at camp since 2017 when we first expanded the educational building into our Smith Conference Center. The old kitchen was a conglomeration of four different buildings, built and tied together over the last 30 years.

Seeing it come down is definitely bittersweet. There have been so many memories — good and bad — from working out of that kitchen. The kitchen was one of the very first permanent structures built at camp. Hundreds of thousands of meals have been served out of it. Thousands of kids got full bellies from it while at camp. But once it’s cleared out, we will be rebuilding a new kitchen, one that will be able to serve our growing numbers of guests. And it will be stocked with updated equipment! Fun fact: two of the ovens in use up to this month were actually from the old children’s hospital. I think we got our money’s worth out of them.

So, if you want to be a part of the next page of the youth camp’s history, come out and see what’s new. You can schedule a tour of camp for any size group — even just you and a friend. But if you bring a bus of 40 people or more, we’ll give you a tour and a free lunch and the FSEA will reimburse up to $2,000 for the cost of the bus. If this sounds like something your lodge would benefit from, please email me at nick@feyc.org to coordinate details.

That’s all I’ve got for this edition of FEYC news. I look forward to seeing many of you at the midyear convention in November. If I miss you there, maybe I’ll see you at the February Quarterly at the camp. Or, maybe I’ll see you on a tour!

Thank you for all that you do as Florida Elks, and thank you for the opportunity to serve as your Youth Camp Director. It is an honor.