Camp Courageous in Cascade – “A Little Goes A Long Way”

It was the one field trip that the 4th and 5th graders were jealous of the 6th graders for – Camp Courageous in Cascade Iowa. It was singularly, the best, field trip and with good reason, everything they had you do at the camp was fun and interesting.

Last year was the first time I met Charlie Becker, the Camp’s Director, it brought me back to the fond memories I had of the field trip there oh-so-many years ago.  Charlie was at Runde’s again earlier this week talking to us about everything that had happened to the camp over the last year.  We had quite a bit of catching up to do.

Hello again Charlie, how have things been at the camp?
Things have been going great. Last year we ended up using the donation we got from Runde’s to completely remodel our dormitory. We have three dormitories for the staff that all needed remodeling and now they look great! This time we are looking at remodeling our lodge. The lodge is our main building and we are looking at replacing ceiling tile, putting on new paint, and things like that.

I’m glad to hear to hear the donation helped.
Every donation counts, a little goes a long way. The suppliers we get our materials from generously sell everything to us at cost. If we were to get a donation of, say, $500 – that $500 actually more than doubles into $1,200 worth of products from say someplace like Lowe’s in Dubuque.  This is because of the great prices our sellers give us.  By the way, how is Al Kloft behaving himself?

You know Al?  It seems like everyone knows Al Kloft.  Yeah, Al is great.  He brought in Runde Auto Group hats, footballs and miscellaneous items to the camp and the children love them.

When do you plan on doing the remodeling to the lodge?
Very shortly … definitely by January.   

How many volunteers do you have?
Right now we probably have around 20 volunteers daily.

Is the camp usually packed full of participants?
The demand for the camp is great. This year we opened up registration for the 2011 year and within five minutes we were booked for the whole year. Generally the campers stay a week.

Wow. Are there any geographical requirements of the campers? Do you only take in people from a certain radius?
There is no limit to our coverage but  majority of our campers are within a 75 miles radius of Monticello.

Any big plans for Christmas at the camp?
We had Santa come last week.  During this month Santa will probably meet 1,700 different kids. We have a big party and it’s a great time.

I’ll have to make a trip up to Camp Courageous in Cascade Iowa to see what’s all new. I haven’t been there since elementary school but I remember it being a blast!
We would love to have you check it out.

Camp Courageous in Cascade Iowa is a non-profit organization that runs on donations, with no government funding, no formal sponsorship and no one paid to raise money for the camp. They operate through the generosity of donations given by people and companies. If you would like to make a donation to Camp Courageous you can use the following contact information:

 
Phone: (319) 465-5916
Email: info@campcourageous.org
PO Box 418
Monticello, IA

Remember: “A Little Goes a Long Way!”