My Nonprofit Reviews

Heads Up! Hartford continues to be a strong presence in the Greater Hartford community, even in the midst of a pandemic. The camp prepares high school teens to be leaders, understanding diversity and the responsibility for helping our neighbors. Campers engage in conversation and work about how to be better citizens in a world that is hurting. In 2021 we had a hybrid camp with two in-person days and the rest via zoom--to keep all safe. Relationships were built, community service was accomplished, and new learning happened. Heads Up! Hartford is a camp like no other, given the lives that are changed and challenged. I am proud to be part of this camp for years and join those who have been changed by it.

Heads Up! Hartford is a camp that brings together urban and suburban teens to learn how to be leaders, how to celebrate diversity, and how to serve the wider community by giving of themselves. With the coronavirus pandemic upon us, the youth leaders switched gears and said a resounding "yes" to make this year's camp a creative virtual experience via Zoom. During the week campers learned about some of the social injustices of our current time and how they might make a difference. They had engaging and difficult conversations on these topics in addition to having fun together. Their passionate counselors and youth leaders guided campers online to realize the difference they can each make wherever they are planted. I have volunteered with this camp for 15+ years and am continually amazed at the ways these young people teach me. These campers and youth leaders will be the future leaders of our communities! In one short week they deepened relationships and built new ones with the dream of returning next year for an in-person camp experience.

I have had the joy of being part of the Heads Up! Hartford community for 13 years as camp counselor, Operations Committee member and in recent years Board member. I leave camp each summer being filled with hope that I see in campers and other counselors--hope for our hurting world. I serve at camp even when we don't have high school young people from our parish attending, because I believe in this camp that changes people. Each night of camp we have inspiring evening programs that challenge and open hearts for lively discussion--programs that move us out of our comfort zones. At the end of each night there is an opportunity for campers to share God-moments which are times when they see God in the midst of their service or interaction with another. My heart is warmed by the many campers who share how God moves in and through what we do, even those campers who enter camp professing no belief.