My Nonprofit Reviews

As a former teacher and camp director, the Cheley Foundation taught me to mentor young people who could not afford, but would benefit from, attending a summer camp. I witnessed the growth and self reliance these young people acquired from returning summer after summer to camp. Not a one time thing, a camper may return every summer until they age out.

Then I volunteered as a board member and watched the organization blossom into sending over 100 campers to 9 established and vetted summer camps around the country. No longer a board member, I continue to volunteer to evaluate new camper's applications, and coach mentors on their camper's Capstone Service Project. Once a camper reaches high school, they are encouraged to 'give back' to their communities with a service project. Each camper must document the initiation, progress, and results of their project through a web presentation. These are available for you to view online at the Cheley Foundation website.

In the past 20 years, I have seen my donations of time and money produce phenomenal young people whom I hope will one day run our world.

I am a former teacher and have worked in summer camps for over half of my life. When I joined the John Austin Cheley Foundation, I found that I could provide the volunteer skills needed to help recruit qualified young people to attend summer camp for free. We managed to increase the number of young people the Cheley Foundation sent to camp from 25 to 100 while I was on the Board. And the growth and personal development I witnessed from these young adults was simply astounding. Not even one of my classroom students showed as much growth and personal development as those young people who attended the summer programs which the Cheley Foundation endorses. I truly believe every child should attend a three to four week overnight camp. And the Cheley Foundation provides the safest, most secure, summer enrichment programs that you can find almost anywhere in the United States.