Camp Kekoka Needs | Building Our Future Project | Meet Maurice | Impact By The Numbers | Renderings
CAMP KEKOKA NEEDS
When a child drives through the YMCA/APYC Camp Kekoka gates, they embark upon a life-defining adventure. At the edge of the Chesapeake Bay, the 97-acre camp provides an experience that stretches, challenges, and rewards. Through the Y’s 16-year partnership with the Alexandria Police Youth Camp, our overnight camp serves not only local youth but families from Northern Virginia and around the globe. Over time, we have seen campers become counselors and board volunteers. This history of service has necessitated an investment in the camp to continue offering a high-quality and transformative experience. The vision for this incredible camp is big, but the impact is bigger. Currently, we are using a portable trailer to serve as the camper’s infirmary and director’s lodging with a need to build permanent housing. The camp’s future also includes environmental education programming, expanding water activities and amenities, additional campsites, and shoreline preservation and management. Fulfilling these needs positions Camp Kekoka to serve for decades and continue transforming lives. Under the clear moon on the edge of the bay, we see the importance of nature as a teacher to our youth and our commitment to welcoming all to camp.
BUILDING OUR FUTURE PROJECT
PROJECT SERVING OUR YOUTH
YMCA/APYC Camp Kekoka was born from a partnership between two youth-serving organizations. At the heart of the matter, at camp, we “Get Outside. Grow Inside.” The Building Our Future project focuses on creating space for youth to become their best version. The project starts at the gate and continues through the property with updated outdoor activities along our shoreline, upgraded aquatics area, and land activities, like volleyball, added to enhance the camp experience.
VISION FOR THE FUTURE
In our current phase, plans include the construction of a new infirmary, and director’s quarters connected to the existing dining hall, adding safety and quality to the programming delivered. In this forward-looking plan, the future phases add 12 new cabins that accommodate more youth each summer, which grows the YMCA/APYC mission and the transformational impact of programming.
SUPPORTING NATURE
All around the 97-acre property, the beauty of the Chesapeake Bay and tributaries is evident. The project prioritizes accommodation for the environmental needs of this vulnerable environment, including shoreline restoration, oyster reefs, and the enhancement of outdoor education offerings for camp participants and the surrounding community.
MEET MAURICE
Maurice has been a camper for four years. With the generosity of the YMCA and APYC, Maurice and his siblings can attend camp on full scholarship. His camp journey went from camper to counselor in training to junior counselor and returning for a 7th summer as a senior counselor. While Maurice has plans to eventually become a musician or teacher, his experience at Camp Kekoka was so powerful that he wanted to give the same experience to the next generation of Kekoka campers by coming back every year to serve our campers. Being in a family of five with a single mother, the kindness and generosity of our organizations have given Maurice life skills to pay it forward. His time as a junior counselor was outstanding, and he truly understands the benefit of getting kids outside so they can grow inside.
IMPACT BY THE NUMBERS
• 1,180 individual youth have attended camp over the past 16 years, some going on to attend more than one week
• Over the past 16 years, almost $743,00 in scholarships has been provided to give youth this life-changing experience that they would never have any other way
• Youth from 15 other states and two countries (Armed Forces Europe and Austria) have attended camp
RENDERINGS
