“This is the funnest thing on earth.” Breakaway’s summer camp for prisoners’ kids, at-risk youth, and underprivileged children.
This has been our ninth year of providing summer camps for prisoners’ kids, at-risk youth, and underprivileged children. Some of the stories we’ve heard at camp this year have been heart-rending…
A 14-yr old girl shared how she was the one to find the body of her grandmother’s boyfriend just after he put a pistol in his mouth and pulled the trigger. She confessed to being suicidal herself and shared how just two weeks before camp, she wanted to take her own life but the thought of going to summer camp gave her a glimmer of hope.
An 11-yr old boy was terrified at camp that he would go home to find his mother dead. His biological father is in prison, his step dad just went to prison, and his mother’s new live-in boyfriend is violent, abusive, and beats on her.
An 18-yr old boy shared his life-changing testimony at camp: He talked about how several years ago, after losing his mother, getting bullied in his neighborhood, and feeling hopeless, he was ready to take his own life. The same day that he was mustering up the will to commit suicide on May 27th of 2009, he was informed that he received a scholarship from Breakaway to go to summer camp. Not only did he make it to camp, he gave his life to Christ and found some new mentoring relationships. He was introduced to a church family, got baptized, and has been coming back to camp ever since. This year he served as a cabin leader.
We have seen many kids come to Christ this summer (five were baptized following camp). It’s been a joy seeing first year campers (younger children) blend in so easily with our camp culture and seeing some of our return campers (teens) take big next steps towards leadership growth. And the spirit of camp isn’t just relegated to our youth; one of our elderly counselors with stage 4 cancer was determined to ride a horse—and she did! Her spirit lifted the hearts of all the campers and staff.
One camper said, “This is the funnest thing on earth!” Hear his words and others on the short video above. See camp photos and more on the Breakaway Outreach Facebook page.
Please continue to pray for the second half of our Summer of Hope campaign as we provide KidVenturez field trips for underprivileged children, backyard Bible clubs in under-served neighborhoods, and outreach to juvenile detention centers. Your partnership and support is advancing God’s kingdom to the next generation!!!
Dealers in Hope,
Jimmy and Cindy Larche
Founders, Breakaway Outreach