GoCampingAmerica.com | Posted December
    1st, 2014

               

    Spreading the Holiday Cheer:
    Campgrounds Supporting Charities

               

    Happy Camper Blog

             

             
               
                 

    Guadalupe
    River RV Resort in Kerrville, Texas is a popular place for Winter Texans,
    many of whom celebrate Christmas dinner with one another in the park’s
    pavilion.

    But while returning Winter Texans always enjoy seeing each other,
    the guests of honor at Christmas dinner are children from K’Star, an
    emergency shelter for children in protective custody due to a variety of
    difficult situations.

    For the past nine years, Guadalupe River RV Resort co-owner Don
    Temple has been inviting children from the K’Star children’s shelter to
    celebrate the holidays with Winter Texans at his resort.

    “We collect toys and food and money and the kids come and have
    Christmas dinner with us,” said Gloria Gober, Temple’s
    assistant.

    Temple has a special empathy for children who live in shelters,
    having grown up as an orphan and lived in poverty for most of his
    youth.

    Through hard work, Temple left his early life of poverty behind.
    But he hasn’t forgotten what life is like for children in difficult
    circumstances and he frequently organizes fundraising events as well as
    special activities to provide children with home cooked meals, gifts and
    cheer during the holidays.

    Across North America, campgrounds, RV parks and resorts support a
    variety of charitable causes, not only during the holidays but throughout the
    year.

    Campgrounds affiliated with Jellystone Park Camp-Resorts (www.campjellystone.com)
    often hold fundraising events in support of Camp Sunshine (www.campsunshine.com),
    a nationwide network of campgrounds that provide respite, support, joy and
    hope to children with life-threatening illnesses and their immediate
    families.

    The year-round program is free of charge to all families and
    includes 24-hour-medical and psychosocial support. Bereavement sessions are
    also provided to families who have lost a child to an
    illness.

    Individual Jellystone Parks support other charities as well. The
    Jellystone Park in Caledonia, Wis. (www.jellystone-caledonia.com),
    for example, is planning a 5K run on May 9, which will be used to raise funds
    for Ronald McDonald House (www.rmhc.org),
    which provides a variety of special services to children and their
    families.

    Campgrounds affiliated with Kampgrounds of America (www.koa.com), for their
    part, often do fundraising for KOA Care Camps (www.koacarecamps.org),
    which provide funding support to camps that support children with cancer.
    This year, in fact, KOA raised $1 million through its fundraising efforts,
    which were provided to 96 cancer camps throughout North America, said Karen
    McAndrew, the executive secretary of KOA Care Camps, who also co-owns and
    operates the Cardinal / Ottawa South KOA in Ontario, Canada.

    McAndrew said the cancer camps provide unique activities and
    support for children with cancer and their families.

    “They have support groups not only for the cancer victims, but for
    the siblings who feel that all of the attention goes to the child who is
    suffering from cancer,” McAndrew said.

    “Ninety nine percent of the staff in cancer camps are volunteers,”
    McAndrew added. “They are usually doctors and nurses who use their vacation
    time to volunteer. A lot of the counselors are also cancer
    survivors.”

    RV resorts affiliated with Chicago-based Equity Lifestyle
    Properties (www.rvonthego.com)
    also support a number of charitable causes, from local food banks to hospice
    centers and veterans service organizations, in addition to other charitable
    initiatives that have been created through their guests’
    initiatives.

    Fiesta Grande RV Resort in Casa Grande, Ariz., for example,
    collects used eye glasses for the Lion’s Club, whose volunteers are known for
    recycling eye glasses so that they can provided to needy individuals in
    developing countries.

    Fiesta Grande also has a quilters club, which donates quilts to
    hospitalized children. Park guests also take up collections to pay for
    electric wheelchairs for handicapped children.