My Nonprofit Reviews
seena
Review for Camp Unalayee Association, Palo Alto, CA, USA
Camper, counselor, Food Manager, Women's Week Attendee (back in the Day!) Board Member, Advisory Board Member, Family Camp Attendeet: I started going to Unalayee when I was 12 and just keep going, in one role or another, for some very good reasons: As a camper and counselor, because pushed and expanded and supported me in growing as a person socially, emotionally, physically (lots of challenges! Lots of support!) and spiritually. Also, at Unalayee environmental awareness and appreciation is necessarily intrinsic and embedded; as a 30-something person, I realized I kept going back because I always came away with a feeling of deep and lasting Hope for the future because of the people there, mostly, and the enduring beauty of the wilderness. Also, I came to believe, as an elementary school teacher, that If You Want Children to Care About The World You MUST Show Them A World Worth Caring About, and Unalayee, still, does this better than anyplace else I've ever learned of. AND! The Board and Community's incredible commitment to that idea -- No child is turned away for lack of funds, Unalayee works hard to get any child who want to attend On The Bus. Two more things: when I asked my mother, a few years ago, why she kept sending my brother -- with whom I fought vociforously for years -- back up, she said, "When you two came back after that first year, you got along better, more deeply, and for a very long time. I was standing in the backyard watching you two months later one day and I thought "Whatever they are doing up there, it's good and it's working and I'm sending them back". Unalayee still leaves a deep and lasting impact on children. My two kids went, and are still involved as well -- and are still backpackers, ethical campers. And, Bonus: my daughter was well prepared for African Village life in the Peace Corps because of living in the wilderness for weeks on end! What's not to love?
More Feedback
I've personally experienced the results of this organization in...
Myself, my children, my lasting friendships and community relationships. In students from the school where I worked for years who attended, for multiple years -- some from families who could never have afforded full cost, but availed themselves of the Campership Fund to ensure their children a true Wilderness Immersion experience.
If I had to make changes to this organization, I would...
Hard to say. Give it an endowment!! On my list for if I win the lottery, for sure. Other than that, expand the Winter Trips offerings?
How would you describe the help you got from this organization?
Life-changing
How likely are you to recommend this organization to a friend?
Definitely
How do you feel you were treated by this organization?
Very Well
When was your last experience with this nonprofit?
2012
How did you find this group?
Recommended by another, local, Camp that was not operating the year I wanted to go.
What, if any, change in your life has this group encouraged?
Wilderness ethics, environmental awareness, friendships, both lasting and perennial, work ethic -- lots of work as a Staff member! Lifelong learning: as a Board member, I learned a lot about running an organization, which has helped me a lot in other pursuits. Learning to try new things, to reach out for support to my community and to offer it when I see an opportunity to.
Review for Bess the Book Bus Inc, Tampa, FL, USA
I give away books on the school bus I drive in the San Francisco Bay Area. Bess met with me on her National Tour and generously donated several boxes of appropriate books for me to give as I do, to individual students on a day-by-day basis, as well as GREAT picks of hers for me to pass on to a couple of local after-school learning programs. She is a passionate promoter of love of literacy. Her enthusiasm and dedication are infectious, her generosity of time, energy and resources inspirational. I can't think of a better way to allocate your donation dollars than to Back the Bus!
More Feedback
I've personally experienced the results of this organization in...
The director of the program spoke to me and wrote a note for me and Bess describing the impact of one particular books a group of her students read together one day (Bess donated multiple copies of a few titles, lending those titles to shared reading): the girls in the group met on following days to re-read and discuss the ramifications of the ideas brought up in the book for themselves and their futures. These girls were 8-11 years old. The book sparked insightful, deep, life-changing discussion.
If I had to make changes to this organization, I would...
Get her a REAL Bus! You know, like I drive! A 30-40' Blue Bird or something!! Then, of course, get her licensed to drive the thing. Or hire me to do it.
How would you describe the help you got from this organization?
A lot
How likely are you to recommend this organization to a friend?
Definitely
How do you feel you were treated by this organization?
Very Well
When was your last experience with this nonprofit?
2012
How did you find this group?
I read an article in a magazine several years ago, looked her up online, found her website, her facebook page, and have been following her since. I've shared articles and academic studies I've read with her on the topic of Literacy, especially early childhood literacy.
What, if any, change in your life has this group encouraged?
I give away more books than I did before I read about and corresponded with her. I have become known in some circles of students in my District as the driver who has books on the bus all the time -- they seem affronted when i run out periodically -- I buy them at thrift stores, mostly (am known at a couple who sell them to me for 10 cents apiece b/c they know what I do). I am more inspired to pursue early childhood literacy by putting books in the hands of parents of pre-school children because of Bess's story; I still dreams of and do research for a program to do so in my home town because of her in the coming years.
