Welcome back from what was hopefully a wonderful Holiday Break! In continuation of spotlighting local charitable organizations that better our community, we are honored to feature Camp Courageous and The Dubuque Food Pantry.  Camp Courageous- Camp Director, Charlie Becker: Everyone at Camp Courageous is very excited over the planned Lake Project. Camp Courageous recently purchased 30-acres of land from camp’s neighbor to the immediate west of base camp. The purpose of this land was to establish a lake. One needs to be at least 2-miles from the runway of an airport…and this land falls just outside those 2-miles of the Monticello Airport. Currently campers are bussed 22-miles (round trip) to Central Park to do lake activities. The buses not only carry the precious cargo of campers and staff, but also trailers full of canoes. This purchase and subsequent construction of a lake will greatly lessen the camp’s risk, with everything being within walking distance or [...]

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 [...]

It’s that time of year again … time to celebrate the season and spread the holiday spirit.  Every once in a while I find myself wanting to give more to those who need it. Often there are times when I don’t know where to begin in terms of which charity organization to give my donations to. This year, however, we got the chance to interview Charlie Becker, Director of Camp Courageous in Monticello, IA. After the interview I found that I really appreciate what the camp does and wanted to help. The camp runs on donations, with no government funding, no formal sponsorship and no one paid to raise money for the camp. They run through the generosity of donations given by people and companies. Please view the video below to [...]

The following appeared in the October edition of the Camp Courageous monthly newsletter regarding our salesman, Al Kloft: “Al Kloft and his wife, Sherry, of Dubuque dropped off cases of footballs, hats, stuffed toy Runde monkeys, and clothes for camp.  The Klofts have been long time supporters of camp.  A special thank you to Tim Runde and Runde Auto Group for providing many of the items for campers … the campers love the gifts!”   Camp Courageous is a year-round recreational and respite care facility for individuals of all ages with disabilities.  The camp is located in Monticello, IA and it is a not-for-profit organization.    It was founded on and continues to run on donations. Anyone with a disability can attend.  Vision, mental, physical, and other disabilities are typical of [...]