Schools Are Happy Campers With Donations

May 29, 2009 - PRLog -- A group of California summer camps has gotten together to raise money for schools during the budget crisis and encourage kids to go to summer camp.  Using E-Bay, the new group called, “Camps For a Cause,” will sell camp sessions with low reserve prices.  Whatever is bid for the camp sessions above the reserve amount will go to the winning bidder’s school.  Bidding closes Sunday June 7, 2009.

“This is actually a win-win-win situation” said Andrew Townsend, Director of Kennolyn Camps.  “The camps can welcome another camper to experience summer camp, the winning bidder gets to send their child on an amazing camp adventure, and the winning bidder’s school gets a nice donation.”  

The traditions and customs of Summer Camp are alive and well at Gold Arrow Camp (www.GoldArrowCamp.com), Shaffer’s High Sierra Camp (www.HighSierraCamp.com), Catalina Island Camps (www.CatalinaIslandCamps.com), and Kennolyn Camps (www.Kennolyn.com) but they didn’t want to miss out on the world’s largest online marketplace and the chance to raise money for schools in times of budget cuts and teacher layoffs.  “E-Bay makes great sense for us," says Scott Shaffer of Shaffer’s High Sierra Camp. “We are also trying to reach out to potential new campers and find ways to contribute to our community.  Camps For a Cause helps us do both of these things at the same time.”

Bidders may also get a bargain. While the respective camps set each session’s reserve price, some reserves are as low as 30% of the published price.  “We hope that people will bid up the items to ensure that the schools get a healthy contribution but someone could get the deal of a lifetime” said Tom Horner, owner of Catalina Island Camps. Steve Monke of Gold Arrow Camps hopes to see this pilot project expand. “Children really need the opportunities that camp offers” he says, “the chance to really connect with people and our natural world is a vital stage in a child’s development and camp allows children to explore these relationships in a fun and caring environment. The chance to get more children involved in camp and help schools is a great idea.”

Interested bidders can find the camp sessions by searching on the camp names or for “summer camp” within E-Bay.  

“Campers do not need to worry that technology will take over the camp experience. We will never gather round the glow of a computer to sing camp songs and tell stories," says Townsend. “Camp will always be a human experience, even if we use technology to spread the word about our camps."