Camp Fire News
Camp Fire in the News
Camp Gratitude at Tanadoona
Earlier this year, a group of veterans and their families spent a week at Camp Tanadoona as part of a program called Camp Gratitude. It was an opportunity for soilders and their families to have some peace and quiet together after long deployments. See the Fox 9 news story here.
Learn more about Camp Gratitude at their website, www.campgratitude.org. Learn how
your group can rent Camp Tanadoona for programs and events by clicking here.
Viking Pat Williams Teams with Camp Fire
The Minnesota Viking's Defensive End, Pat Williams, celebrate his continuing partnership with Camp Fire USA Minnesota Council by accompanying the Crown Ridge community club to the Brunswick Zone bowling alley earlier this month.
Williams spent the afternoon rotating between the lanes, sharing bowling pointers, and building friendships with club youth. Williams also delivered a giant check to Camp Fire USA Minnesota Council representing his donation of $12,000 to youth development program.
See the Fox 9 news story about the field trip by clicking below.
Camp Fire and GoodSearch.com
Channel 12 Television featured Camp Fire USA Minnesota Council in a recent story about GoodSearch.com. Brooklyn Center Teens in Action Club members talked about why Camp Fire is important to them and why its important to support local youth.
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Partnership for healthy youth
Camp Fire partners with Allina for healthy kids, teens, and families
Living healthy takes a lot more than eating the occasional vegetable. Adopting a whole lifestyle approach of healthy choices is the key to building strong kids, teens, and families.
That's the philosophy behind a new partnership between Camp Fire USA Minnesota Council and Allina Hospital and Clinics. Throughout this school year and coming summer, Allina will support Camp Fire's health and wellness programs for youth at our out-of-school time clubs and Camp Tanadoona.
"The goal of our health and wellness program is to empower youth to develop healthy habits which will stay with them as adults," explains Camp Fire VP of Community Relations Jessica Ayers-Bean. "We are thrilled to partner with Allina on this critical work."
Camp Fire's health and wellness program focuses on physical activity, nutritious foods, and emotional well-being.
In clubs, this means introducing youth to new ways to exercise like yoga, to healthy snacks like raisins and fruit slices, and to easy ways to reduce stress and resolve problems.
While there's no shortage of physical activity at Camp Tanadoona, Allina's support will help streamline and focus wellness initiatives at camp. A health and wellness director funded in part by Allina will make sure all campers are exposed to a variety of activities as well as organizing healthy meals and snacks in the dining hall.
Together, Camp Fire and Allina are inspiring a new generation of healthy kids and teens and planting the seeds for healthy families and communities for years to come.
Free bikes for Camp Fire youth
Youth from three Camp Fire USA Minnesota Council clubs will receive free bikes
A bicycle can mean a lot of things to a child. It can be an exciting new toy to play with each afternoon. It can be a fun way to get physical activity. It can be their first means of independence and a chance to explore their neighborhood in a whole new way.
Yet many youth who participate in Camp Fire clubs at low-income housing developments across the Twin Cities Metro have never had a bike of their own.
That's where an organization called Free Bikes 4 Kidz steps in. On December 10th, Free Bikes 4 Kidz will host an event to provide thousands of local children with refurbished bikes and helmets. Camp Fire will shuttle youth from three out-of-school-time clubs to the event and back home with their bikes.
"I am hoping to get as many bikes to as many Camp Fire youth as possible," said Krystal Cambrone, Camp Fire's After-School Literacy AmeriCorps VISTA who will transport youth the day of the event.
Free Bikes 4 Kidz is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping all kids ride into a happier, healthier childhood. The organization collects unwanted bikes which they fix and refurbish. This year, Free Bikes for Kidz partnered with Allina Hospitals & Clinics and Life Time Fitness to set up 20 different donation sites around the Twin Cities areas, collecting 4,500 bikes.
"This is a great opportunity to give our youth a tool to have fun while staying healthy and active," said Cambrone, adding, "I can't wait to see the looks on the kids' faces when they ride their own bikes for the very first time."
