Partners With Youth Campaign Gives Orcas Kids Scholarships to Camp Orkila

The 2010 Camp Orkila/YMCA “Partners With Youth” Campaign has high hopes of raising $51,000 from the Orcas community this year to provide scholarships to island kids in summer day camp, overnight camps and teen expeditions.

The annual Partners With Youth Campaign is co-chaired again this year — for the third year running — by Dean and Audrey Stupke.

Audrey Stupke, a former elementary school principal, says that one of the motivations for her to participate in this campaign was expressed in the recent book Last Child in the Woods, which speaks of the “nature deficit disorder” facing many increasingly-urbanized children. “We’re helping to ensure this doesn’t happen with Orcas children,” she says.

She and Dean, a former physical education and health teacher and coach, are heading a team of about 40 volunteers, reaching out one-on-one to solicit donations to the Partners With Youth campaign. “It’s a wonderful effort and people are so excited to work on it,” says Audrey. She points out the year-in, year-out assistance given by campaigners Kay Miller, Lynn Richards, Denise Wilk and Sophie Lappas.

When the Stupke’s went to the Seattle YMCA for the campaign’s kickoff event this year, Audrey was once again amazed at the enthusiasm and commitment of former YMCA campers and staff: “We heard the stories of what camp meant to them, and what a big difference it made in their lives.”

At Camp Orkila, Dimitri Stankevich and Linda Sanders, with help from Beth Wangen, and Kaitlyn Richards, are heading up the campaign. “The community has always been very generous,” Stankevich says. “Nearly every island school kid has been here in the day camp program,” he adds.

Thanks to the Partners With Youth contributions, the summer day camp gives direct financial aid and also keep the overall fees low for “middle ground” parents who may feel uncomfortable asking for scholarship assistance. The cost for a week of day camp is $200; an average of 40 local kids each summer benefit from full or partial scholarship assistance to day camp. Stankevich says the island kids who attend Camp Orkila “tell the local story of camp on the island, and it’s a life-changing experience.”

The YMCA organization states,  “We build strong kids, strong families, strong communities.” The camps  offer “values-based programs designed to help young people build self-esteem, strengthen positive values and establish healthy behaviors.”

The overnight camps run all summer long, emphasizing  sailing, biking, skateboard, marine biology, horsemasters,  or kayaking. In addition, about a dozen local kids take part in the Teen Expedition Programs with assistance from Partners with Youth.

All branches of the YMCA participate in PWY, and 97% of the proceeds raised on Orcas stay on Orcas, says Stankevich: “There is no way to do this fundraising without the volunteers.”

The Partners with Youth campaign also stays in close contact with former staff throughout the country. They are asked to use the internet to raise funds through social networking and to host “Kitchen Philanthropy” dinners, calling on friends and family to contribute to the campaign.

This year’s campaign will come to an end with the Closing Ceremony on Feb. 11 , coinciding with the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics,in Vancouver BC on Feb. 12.

For those who would like to participate in the campaign or make donations, call the Stupke’s at 376-6013, or Camp Orkila at 376-2678.