“My husband Tom and I moved here six years ago. We had worked with homeless kids and literacy in Birmingham and wanted to do something like that in Baldwin County. We couldn’t find a location here, so we had the first Camp Creation in Prichard in 2016. Liberty Church in Foley invited us to move the camp there. They now turn their entire children’s division over to us for five weeks in the summer. We started with three certified teachers and now have seven. We focus on math and reading to stop the summer slide. We give every child a Bible and do prayer, praise, and worship. We also have art, music and physical education.

I was once a medical social worker. Tom and I started cooking a meal with our family at Christmas at the women’s shelter in Birmingham. I challenged each family member to meet a woman and learn her story and share it with the family. Then we started working with The Hope Center in Birmingham with at-risk and homeless kids. When we first tried to open Camp Creation in Baldwin County, the roadblocks were ridiculous. DHR and the sheriff’s department told us we don’t have homeless in Baldwin County. One of the statements was ‘you need to understand this is a vacation destination.’ We don’t admit that we have problems here because the publicity would scare away tourists. We have to get our heads out of the sand because it is everywhere. We need more advocates speaking up for our kids.

Tom and I have six children and nine grandchildren who are happy, healthy, and thriving. It was our dream to help other children thrive. Before Tom died suddenly last summer, he said please don’t cancel the camp. I promised to keep this going as long as I can. We had a golf tournament in his memory and raised money for a playground. We are going to do another tournament this year and add a basketball court, shuffleboard cour,t and picnic area.

We have 80 to 100 children at Camp Creation every year. The kids are ages 4 to 11, up to going into 5th grade. We have certified teachers who give so much time and love to these kids. We do testing at the beginning and end of camp to measure improvement. Our kids test without any summer slide, we know it is working. The board of education asked us to do this all over the county.

One child had just received cochlear implants and we helped her learn how to speak. Another child didn’t speak, but she fixed our bubble machine that didn’t work, then showed the other kids how to work it. By the end of the day she was talking. Every minute of camp is a gift of God.

Some of our kids have down syndrome or are on the spectrum of autism. We had an emotionally disturbed child who couldn’t go anywhere else but found love with us. Campers come from Gulf Shores, Orange Beach, Foley and Elberta. We have homeschooled kids because mamas want them to learn about real life. It is a beautiful balance. Campers don’t come from Fairhope because they don’t have a way to get there and we can’t provide transportation, but many of the volunteers and sponsors are from there.

Policemen and firemen spend time at camp with the kids. A child once saw a policeman and climbed in my lap bawling and saying the lady was going to take me away. We found out the police went to her house the night before and carried away her mother’s boyfriend. The mother told the child it was her fault that the boyfriend was taken and that the little girl would be next. She was traumatized. Another day, three siblings came in. The younger brother and sister were happy and bubbly but the older sister just sat against the wall in the hall. I sat next to her for 30 minutes saying nothing, just being there. She finally opened up that she had taken the beatings for her brother and sister to protect them. These are some of the things our children in Baldwin County are going through. We protect these children and give them a few hours of happiness and love and safety at all costs.

One child wore the same clothes to camp every day. A youth volunteer took all of her own money to buy the little girl an outfit. The volunteer did more chores at home to buy the girl more clothes. These young people who volunteer are learning about the world. We need more volunteers. Come read to the kids or buy them new books that we can give them as rewards. One grandmother came in to read and became the grandmother to all of our camp kids.

We run on donations and God always provides. Feeding the Gulf Coast and local restaurants help us feed the children so they get at least one good meal a day during camp. Church youth groups volunteer. This year we ordered STEM projects that several couples purchased for us. This summer we gave 36 camp scholarships from sponsors. Right now we have 19 scholarships but need at least 20 more. The more children people sponsor, the more kids we can bring in. We have room to grow by forty more kids and could easily fill that. Every penny donated goes to the program. I cover all administration costs. One lady in her 80s makes Rice Krispy treats every week and the kids love it.

Find a cause or a place you care about and get involved. Take your kids and grandkids. Let’s close the gap between kids here and kids there. People ask me why I am running this hard at 72. Helping other people keeps me going. If I can make a difference in one child’s life every summer, all of the work is worth it. Somebody has to give a damn.”