RFK 2024 was another incredible week of making moments matter for the children of Alaska’s foster care system. This year, our 58 campers were supported by 66 full-time volunteers, two dozen part-time volunteers, and over a hundred prayer partners. As He does every year, God moved in some incredible ways this year.
Staffing was a challenge this year. We struggled to find both male and female cousins and had several folks who had unforeseen circumstances come up last minute to prevent them from serving. God’s hand was clear throughout, however. On one of those occasions, a new volunteer signed up the night before we found out another couldn’t come, allowing us to easily fill a critically needed position. In the end, every needed position was filled and we headed to camp on Saturday with a strong (albeit slightly smaller than previous years) group of incredible volunteers!
On Sunday night, the day before our campers arrive, we make a final reminder call to each camper’s caregiver to confirm their attendance and answer any last-minute questions. This time, while all the girl campers were good to go, we had a spot for a boy open up. The first boy on our waitlist was already on another trip and the next two were a several-hour drive from Anchorage and couldn’t make it in time.
Out of the blue, just after 9pm and right before we were going to offer the spot to a boy who had been adopted into a great home, we got an email from a foster parent asking if her sweet 7-year-old was registered. This boy was so excited to come back to camp that he had been packed for a week but an application for him had never been submitted so he wasn’t on our list! We were thrilled to tell his foster mom that we had a spot for him and praised God for moving her to send that email in the only half-hour chunk of time when we could have accepted him.
Speaking of volunteers and campers, we had the incredible privilege of welcoming TWO volunteers this year who had once been RFK campers themselves. Yolana attended an RFK in Texas and this year served with us as a Cousin. Nevaeh was a camper at RFK Anchorage for at least 3 years and served as a Second-Cousin this year! It was a joy and an inspiration to hear their stories and watch what beautiful friendships they were able to build with their campers.
The week of camp was full of so many wonderful moments. We got to see siblings who live in different foster homes reunited. We watched quiet campers slowly come out of their shells. We celebrated when a camper caught his first-ever fish and then his cabin got to join him in eating it for dinner. We watched campers find activities they loved to do and encouraged them to keep pursuing that interest. We shared how God made each of us exactly the way we are and saw how that message touched the hearts of our campers. At the end of the week, we said goodbye to our campers praying that we were able to make as big of an impact on them as they did on us.
Through all the challenges and blessings, God is faithful and provided everything we needed (and more!) to put on another successful week of camp. We can’t wait for next year!
Share in our joy and check out this selection of photos taken by camp photographers during the 2024 Camp. Photos may take a moment to load. You can also view or download these photos on Flickr Here >
