Getting Kids Outdoors Matters

For the past 3 years it has been my privilege to serve as the board president of Lantern Light Camps, a 501c3 non-profit that operates “The Wah-Tut-Ca Reservation”, a 250-acre camp on the shores of Northwood Lake in Northwood, NH.  I serve alongside 13 other board members, dozens of dedicated volunteers, and our amazing staff who provide life changing outdoor education and adventure experiences for children and young adults.  While we operate our own resident and day-camp programs, including “Camp Northwood”, one of our largest programs is partnering with other youth-serving organizations (YSO) in New England who do not own or operate camps of their own.  We provide the facilities, as well as the program and support staff to facilitate their outdoor program goals.  We also work with state and other agencies to bring children being raised by grandparents to camp at a fraction of the cost.  There are over 4000 children in New Hampshire being raised by their grandparents (likely undercounted), driven in large part by the opioid crisis. 

Many of the kids who get to come to Wah-Tut-Ca are from backgrounds very different from those of my connections on LinkedIn.  Many of the kids coming to camp do not pay for their camp experience but rather receive “camperships” or grants.  Many have never been swimming, been in a boat, or sat around a campfire before. For some, it is the first time they have traveled more than a few miles from their homes.  For them, camp is a world completely different from the one they know.  The experiences they have at camp are transformational, opening them up to adventures and opportunities they could only otherwise dream of.  Simply put, camp makes a big difference in the lives of these kids. 

In 2024 Lantern Light Camps will be starting an initiative focused on childhood mental health.  Working with our YSO partners we will seek to provide social work interns working under the supervision of a licensed social worker to support the youth attending camp.  Members of our staff will be trained in “mental health first aid” to understand the signs of crisis.  Since 2011, the number of high school students in the United States reporting “persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness” has risen 50%, from 28% to 42% of all students.  There is an urgent social need for the kinds of experiences kids get at camp where they feel less isolated, more accepted, and where they can live without screens and experience our world “IRL.” 

Camp is a truly magical place and, if it were up to me, every kid would be able to experience it.  If you know of a YSO in central New England that may be interested in partnering with us to create camp experiences for the youth they serve, please reach out.  If you know of a grandparent raising a grandchild in New Hampshire who may be interested in sending their grandchild to camp at a significantly reduced cost, I can point them in the right direction.  They can also go directly to lanternlightcamps.org to learn more.

The work of operating and funding the camp is, in a word, hard.  If you were to come into camp and see the magic, you might think a fairy godmother just waived a wand to make it happen.  But, like the duck that appears cool as a cucumber above the surface, we are paddling like crazy beneath the waterline.  None of it would happen without the generosity of time, resources, and spirit of our volunteers and donors.  If you have an interest in joining our cadre of volunteers and donors, affectionately known as our “Camp Builder Corps”, please reach out to me or visit our website at lanternlightcamps.org.  And, if you made it this far, please consider sharing this article with others.

Michael Bryant