Nearly 100 people dedicated an entire weekend earlier this year to clean out, fix up, and prepare both Merrowvista and Miniwanca for the foundation’s summer programs. They worked on raised beds for gardens, fixed cabin windows and doors, inspected canoes, and moved mattresses — just a few tasks on long to-do lists.

Director of Development Jessa Glick said these efforts are just one of several vital volunteer opportunities throughout the year that support the AYF mission.

“Part of serving humbly is supporting and ensuring the growth of these spaces, but also maintaining these spectacular facilities that cost a lot of money to run,” Glick said. “And so, to keep camps accessible to kids, we rely on volunteers as well as donors.”

Michael Harter, Miniwanca Director of Conference, Community, and School Programs, said volunteers invigorate the full-time staff.

“It is hard to explain the boost Volunteer Weekend gives the full-time staff after a long winter, as well as the seasonal staff who experience the results of that work as they get ready to embark on spring community and school programs,” Harter said.

As a foundation, Glick said the AYF offsets at least 30% of the true cost of camp for every participant when it sets tuition rates each year. Volunteers are just one of the many ways the AYF relies on its community to support these discounted programs.

“We are relying on the community that came before to help the present community have those same experiences,” Glick said.

The AYF offers a variety of ways for people to roll up their sleeves and get involved each year, including chaperoning camp buses from St. Louis to Michigan, helping with the Donald Danforth Jr. Memorial Golf Tournament, hosting fundraisers, putting on community events, and staffing the National Leadership Conference.

Almost all AYF volunteers return for more than one year of service, and they are often former campers or families of current campers. When volunteers give their time, treasures, and talents to the AYF, Glick said they often experience what she calls a “giver’s glow,” when they feel valued and accomplished.

“They get to re-experience the feelings of growth and self-discovery they had when they were participants or when they saw their family members participate,” she said.

Glick said volunteering for the AYF becomes a way of life for many who recognize the programs’ impact in their own lives. “It’s a way of discovering how to get outside yourself and make meaningful connections with others, in service to others,” she said.

If you’re interested in volunteering with the AYF, email development@ayf.com for more information about 2024 opportunities.

The post AYF volunteers serve humbly at Miniwanca, Merrowvista appeared first on American Youth Foundation.

The American Youth Foundation strives to preserve, restore, and renovate existing buildings, but Senior Director of Infrastructure Andy Mulcahy said Miniwanca’s shifting sand dunes made the Fellowship Building and Assembly unsafe to use. After much deliberation, the AYF made the difficult decision to take down both structures.

Built in 1951, the Fellowship Building was perched on a steep hillside and once served as a central meeting spot for leaders. “Before the building’s decommission, the Facilities Team saw an opportunity to preserve its legacy by carefully removing the building’s fireplace stones, which came from each of the 50 states,” Mulcahy said. “We have securely stored them for future use elsewhere at Miniwanca.”

The spirit of fellowship lives on at that site. The facilities team replaced the structure with a large open deck overlooking Stony Creek, allowing campers to experience quiet moments of small group connection and conversation.

Mulcahy said significant structural issues over time caused the nearly 100-year-old Assembly building to lean precariously. Miniwanca took down the structure in spring 2022 but preserved the Assembly fireplace and mill stone.

“We know how important these historic structures are to our Miniwanca Founder Family,” Mulcahy said. “We hope to honor their legacies by repurposing key parts of the original buildings to create new spaces for youth to explore and enjoy for decades to come.”

At Merrowvista, the facilities team renovated existing structures to make them more welcoming to youth. They renovated a Super BIFF (Bathroom in the Friendly Forest) that includes showers and restrooms for use by all participants, as well as single-stall, gender-neutral spaces for transgender and gender-expansive participants.

They also made living spaces more comfortable for onsite staff. They added a lower-level egress to the apartment below the Health Center and completed a gut rehab of the Treehouse, which includes a staff apartment above the camp pottery studio and commercial laundry space. Even the youngest community members saw improvements this year, as the Scout Village classroom was refreshed to create a more child-friendly space for staff children.

Work at Merrowvista continued during the summer as older Wayfinder campers embraced new challenges through service-learning projects under the supervision of Facilities Infrastructure Manager Adam “Boots” Smetana.

Session A Wayfinders carefully took down the aging structure that housed the camp bell, whose clangs signal the day’s activities. They constructed a sturdy platform as the base for the new bell tower, then followed Smetana into the woods, where they felled trees to support a new metal roof.

Session B Wayfinders donned their hardhats and got to work on a log cabin on the A-field that interns built in the 1990s. Campers took it down to the studs and rebuilt the structure from the foundation up, adding and staining logs, creating and installing floors, and adding a new roof.

Smetana said these campers left Merrowvista with so much more than practical skills. “The Wayfinder program gives campers the chance to truly be of service to the Merrowvista community and to contribute to the future camp experiences of others,” he said.

The post AYF facilities teams focus on solid foundations appeared first on American Youth Foundation.

Team AYF began the year excited to make more programs happen than we could in 2021.

And yet, it seemed nearly every door we previously walked through was now a wall: the struggle to rent vans, supply chain delays and price increases, difficulty recruiting seasonal staff, more children dealing with emotional health needs.

Bringing a new program season into motion is never easy, but this year, walls rose at every turn.

And then, those we serve – the campers, the staff, the participants, the alumni – arrived, and doors appeared.

Once they crossed the thresholds of Miniwanca and Merrowvista, campers and participants discovered new strengths in themselves and others. Staff and volunteers found the joy and pride that results from overcoming challenges. We all saw what can be accomplished when we bring our best to the task at hand.

Volunteers appeared when hands were short. Campers adjusted to changes in trip itineraries, menus, and activities. Service-learning projects greatly enhanced what was once weary.

In the footprint of the beloved Assembly building, the National Leadership Conference community constructed a stage with curtains and lights.

Odyssey ascended Mt. Katahdin, and Voyageurs descended Mississippi River headwaters. So many charged through doors of possibility to make good things happen.

In summer 2021, the AYF saw a short season that served a population of youth more fragile than I had ever experienced.

This year, I witnessed improved physical, mental, social, and spiritual health in all, especially our younger campers. They made the rich discovery that we all need the positive presence of others to do great things and to keep us happy and healthy.

Much credit for this positive outlook goes to our new Care Teams, who focused on supporting the mental, emotional, and social health of our campers and staff. The extra love and support they provided was the most important enhancement made to our summer program communities.

This season demonstrated the power AYF programs have against the now well-documented youth mental health crisis. Our programs teach children that if a door is not obvious, they can find or build one with the best in them and the help of others.

We will continue the important work of getting people outdoors so they can discover the in-doors to all the promise and possibilities ahead.

Your support allows us to offer life-changing outdoor experiences that inspire young people grappling with the limitations and challenges of so many closed doors in their lives.

Thanks for ensuring we keep moving forward at a time when too many give up when faced with walls. Together, we can unleash a generation who hear the call and know they have the resources and resilience to build and open doors.

Anna Kay Vorsteg
AYF President

Support the AYF – contribute to the Annual Fund today!

The post President Anna Kay Vorsteg looks back on 2022 appeared first on American Youth Foundation.

During her internship with the AYF in 2020, Puma created a multiweek series of dares to be used on Miniwanca, Merrowvista, and NLC social media. She used the recently published For Real and On Purpose and the theme of balanced living to encourage those following the AYF to exercise their four folds from home. Puma said 2020 helped her realize that her annual AYF experience allowed her to recharge her body, soul, and mind. Without it, she searched for a tangible way to connect with others and the AYF mission remotely.

Puma said she didn’t intend for so many people to interact with her more than 50 dares, but hundreds have engaged with the posts. She attributes that to the convenience of seeing it while scrolling through Instagram, an easy, fast way to remind campers and AYF alumni to take time to self-reflect and focus on what matters.

Puma said the AYF mission and its four-fold philosophy are beautifully broad, and her time at Miniwanca helped her overcome some uncertainty and confusion regarding her values and spirituality. In her daily life as a high school English teacher in a Milwaukee suburb, Puma believes attending camp developed her strengths as a leader and reinforced her love for kids and her passion for teaching.

The post Enkindled Spirits: Hannah Puma appeared first on American Youth Foundation.

The former Merrowvista camper and seasonal staff member said that, like her City Year red jacket, the mission of the AYF inspires her to wake up and serve others each day. City Year AmeriCorps members work daily in underserved schools for an academic year, working with students to help them succeed in their educations and lives. When Blinkoff graduated from Oberlin College in spring 2020, she said she wasn’t quite ready for grad school and wanted to take time to do something meaningful, which is how she landed with City Year in fall 2020.

Blinkoff credits her time as a Merrowvista staff member with helping her realize she has a strong passion for working with kids. Blinkoff believes she helps others — whether it’s campers or her students — be their best selves by recentering herself every morning. In doing so, she said she creates a continuous cycle of enkindled spirits, where she inspires the students to be their best selves, which in turn inspires her to be her best self.

In fact, the AYF motto “My own self, at my very best, all the time,” is what first spoke to Blinkoff as a new camper years ago. She said her time with the AYF taught her she is a lot stronger — physically and mentally — than she ever thought she could be.

The post Enkindled Spirits: Grace Blinkhoff appeared first on American Youth Foundation.

Today, that same foundational philosophy guides her as chair of the board, a role she assumed in August. Here, Danforth-Burlin shares fond Miniwanca and Merrowvista memories, her thoughts on this generation of campers, and her hopes for the future of the AYF.

What do you remember about your first camp experience?
“My very first year at Miniwanca, I sent a letter to my parents in which I said, ‘I love camp. This is so much fun. I’m a member of the Draws tribe. We have a cheer that goes like this.’ And I wrote out the entirety of this nonsense cheer, and it was complete gibberish to them! Then I wrote, ‘And we have a camp clap, and it goes like this: clap, clap, clap, clap…’ Everything was so meaningful to me as a 9-year-old, and I wanted them to feel my joy in that letter.”

What was your favorite tradition as a camper?
“I loved Night’s Doings. I have a very funny memory of the camper-leader hunt. At the time, campers hid from leaders. My friends and I had a well-hidden place in the woods, completely covered in leaves. We were totally invisible, and no one found us. And then we spent the next week going to the health center dealing with chiggers, mosquitos, poison ivy… It was worth the price though – we won!”

What is one of your favorite memories as a camper parent?
“Nearly every year, I went to the Closing Circle at Merrowvista, and I watched my boys start as the youngest campers and rise through the age groups. Every year, we’d watch the oldest kids pass a candle flame from kid to kid as they’d sing Follow the Gleam. They’ve gone through their whole program, and now they’re passing their torch to the campers below them. It’s a moment of such pride and gratitude – it makes you a complete mess when you watch your kids pass that flame.”

How has your legal career benefited you in the nonprofit space?
“When you’ve been through law school, the way you think about problems changes. It’s very process- and logic-oriented. I will always be a lawyer. I can retire but I will always have legal thinking as the way I address a problem.”

What value do youth development programs provide?
“It’s so important for kids to have the freedom and space to take a deep dive into who they are away from their families and structures. The most meaningful part of AYF programs is getting the kids out of their day-to-day routines and putting them in a thoughtful, caring environment where they have the power to decide for themselves who they want to be.”

What are the needs of youth today?
“This generation is a different kind of kid. They care deeply about what’s going on in the world, and they’re pretty well informed. Young people really see themselves as change agents, so how can the AYF give them the skills they need to learn leadership? How do we give them the internal strength to get them where they want to go? That’s the mission of the AYF. We can give these kids the tools to make the world a better place.”

Which tools are most important for youth today?
“A million young people working in concert with one another to better our country and our globe is great. A million isolated people not working together doesn’t do very much. Getting people to understand community, what it is to work together – that’s the setting the AYF can provide. I want to make sure we as an organization can be resilient and in turn help them build their resilience.”

The AYF centennial in 2025 will be a significant part of your tenure as board chair. What opportunities does this milestone present?
“My great-grandfather always said, ‘What’s next?’ Let’s celebrate what we’ve done, and let’s focus on the future. The centennial gives us an opportunity to make sure we as an organization are doing our own four-fold introspection. Are we meeting our own goals of best self? Are we doing the best we can to share our mission and serve as many people as we can, as best we can? The centennial lets us reach into the past and celebrate, and it also lets us look ahead and ask how we make sure thousands of people are served going forward.”

Where will the AYF be in the decades to come?
“I can’t tell you what the needs of kids decades from now will be or what the world will look like then. What I do know is that our mission and the four-fold way of living worked for my great-grandfather 100 years ago. It worked for my kids three years ago. We’ve spanned a century with a philosophy that is timeless.”

This article originally appeared in the 2021 Founder Fire. 

The post Meet AYF board chair DD Danforth-Burlin appeared first on American Youth Foundation.

High school physics teacher Robert Pike works hard to learn his students’ names within the first three days of each semester, so they feel valued and appreciated — a habit he started as a longtime mentor for National Leadership Conference.

Pike keeps a smile on NLC participants’ faces nearly every summer, but it took nearly 20 years to return to the AYF after his time as a Miniwanca camper and then volunteer, as his teaching schedule was incompatible with NLC programming. He returned to the shores of Lake Michigan when the program was moved from August to June.

Pike recalls his time at camp in the 1980s as positive and memorable, so he works to create similar experiences for first-year participants, the group he works with every year. Pike loves the conference’s emphasis on inclusion and open, respectful dialogue. He’s passionate about getting young people to work together — whether at conference or in the classroom — so that they can determine on their own what specifically they need help understanding.

Last year Campbell High School students awarded Pike the school’s MLK Humanitarian Award, which honors those who embody the spirit and mission of legendary civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Pike attributes this honor to all he has learned from participants and staff members throughout his time with AYF, passing the flame from one NLC class to the next. He said he will continue to mentor NLC participants each year because the genuine, humble philosophies of best self and balanced living established by the camp’s founders withstand the test of time.

The article originally appeared in the 2021 Founder Fire. 

The post Enkindled Spirits: Robert Pike appeared first on American Youth Foundation.

The book selection originated from the coordinators of AYF’s Summer Seminars for Women. SSW Coordinator Bridget Stack said they were drawn to the text as an invitation to explore how white people benefit from privilege in ways that cause damage to Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC).

“I heard about a powerful discussion group on this book, and it immediately struck me as great material for the SSW community,” explained Stack. While prior programs included community building and conversation, this was the first offering for adults to address social justice issues and to dedicate time to the aspect of the AYF mission that encourages people to “make a positive difference.”

In March, 40 adults enrolled in the first Conversation Circles. Meeting through Zoom in biweekly sessions, they worked through the text using a process of group conversation and inquiry called The Circle Way, a structured method of exploring the book. Each week, the participants revisited the expectations for the program, and then broke into their smaller conversation groups, where they rotated the role of “guardian” of the circle. Rather than serving as group leader, the guardian focused on maintaining the integrity of the group by keeping time, ensuring all members could share, and maintaining agreements to speak with respect. This strong group structure created a safe setting for sharing that went deep into the participants’ personal experiences.

Members of the AYF community are committed to putting their values into action, and this book offers a roadmap to constructively teach readers what they can do to further racial justice.

Stack was struck by the commitment participants showed to attend consistently, show up with honesty, and share in the sometimes painful process of acknowledging their privilege. “It was powerful to see this group of women delve into the challenging work of acknowledging how racism is present in our lives and how the things we think, say, or do have the unintended effect of perpetuating white ” she said.

Many participants said they were moved by the process of building trust in the small group setting. Participant Peggy Rush said it made the experience of reading this challenging book much richer. “Although each of us entered the process with a different level of experience and understanding, we ended up in similar kind, empathetic, and caring places at the end,” she said.

Other virtual adult offerings continue to draw the SSW participants and other alumni toward the AYF. Monthly Evening Reflections, a New Year Compass series, and a full virtual Summer Seminars series in July filled out the year. AYF Director of Alumni Relations Molly Mulcahy said she has seen the community grow through these experiences.

“It’s not just a process of reminiscing, but about having a real connection in the present with old and new friends, learning new material, and daring to work to make change,” Mulcahy said.

The post Creating Conversation and Change appeared first on American Youth Foundation.

She and her mother met with the founders of Opportunity Knocks and learned more about the organization. Keen to give back, Kate asked friends and family to help her launch Knocktoberfest to raise funds for Opportunity Knocks through the sale of sell baked goods, doll clothes, and more. Each year before the big day, the Knockers (the kids who fundraise) and the Warriors (the young adults served by Opportunity Knocks) create signs and get to know each other.

While the Warriors celebrate the efforts made for Knocktoberfest, the Knockers celebrate the time and efforts the Warriors give to the greater community through volunteering. In the seven years since its inception, Knocktoberfest has raised more than $45,000.

Now 15, Kate has returned to Miniwanca each summer and currently serves on the junior board for Opportunity Knocks, where she helps plan and advise on other fundraising projects and works on site with the Warriors through her school service program.

The article originally appeared in the 2020 Founder Fire. 

The post Enkindled Spirits: Kate Hampson appeared first on American Youth Foundation.

Taylor’s path to Miniwanca was a sudden detour after a chance meeting with then Girls Camp Director Liz Marshall at a Yale alumni reunion. She expressed an interest in working with youth, and just a few weeks later, Taylor arrived at Miniwanca ready to lead campers in a summer of exploration and growth.

Taylor honed her investigative reporting skills at Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. She was awarded a fellowship at the prestigious Marshall Project, a nonprofit news organization that covers the U.S. criminal justice system. There, Taylor wrote articles exposing abuses in the prison system. Her work in partnership with WNYC on the use of solitary confinement for teenagers won the 2019 Alfred I. duPont- Columbia Award.

The following year, Taylor was awarded an Ida B. Wells Fellowship with Type Investigations, where she wrote extensively on prison health care. Her article, “Why Prisoners Get the Doctors No One Else Wants,” was a 2020 Livingston Award finalist. Using her voice to amplify and share untold stories is how Taylor lives the AYF mission.

The post Enkindled Spirits: Taylor Eldridge appeared first on American Youth Foundation.

Making the leap into a staff role, Willky became a specialist at Merrowvista summer camp. He quickly connected with campers and became an inspiring role model and mentor. After two summers at Merrowvista, Willky answered the call to fill the newly created role of Camper Experience Coordinator at Miniwanca Boys Camp, applying his exceptional knowledge and insight to the role of helping campers achieve their best.

Willky has also embraced great adventures in his life beyond AYF — excelling as a high school student and gaining acceptance into the highly competitive (MS)² Program, Mathematics and Science for Minority Students offered through Phillips Academy Andover. Willky is now in his senior year at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, where he is pursuing double major in American Studies and anthropology. Last spring, one of his professors nominated him for a five-week archaeological service trip the Alaskan village of Togiak.

At each step in his journey, Willky has been open to new experiences, always moving with great respect and curiosity. We are grateful that his enkindled spirit has brought light to both of the AYF camps, and we look forward to seeing him continue to soar with great achievements while inspiring and supporting others.

This article was originally published in the 2019 Founder Fire. 

The post Enkindled Spirits: Willky Joseph appeared first on American Youth Foundation.

After her first year of high school at home in Boulder, Colorado, Lexie realized that she wanted to make a change, seeking more rigor and a deeper sense of connection in her school community. Her search led her to The Northwest School in Seattle, a boarding and day school which is both highly academic and focused on social justice and environmental sustainability. Lexie pursued this dream, was accepted and made the move out to Seattle to become part of a values driven community for her sophomore and junior years of high school.

Her experience at Northwest School opened the way to another educational adventure. Lexie was nominated to attend United World College in Mostar, Bosnia for her senior year and a gap year. This program is a two-year intensive study in an intercultural setting of 200 students total from around the world. Lexie was one of only two students from the United States who were nominated. UWC’s mission is to create peace and sustainability through education. The school in particular looks at curriculum through the lens of reconstructing community post war and conflict.

Lexie is an enkindled spirit who pursued her goals in order to become her best self and to engage in the process of working for peace and social justice in an international setting.

This article originally ran in the 2019 Founder Fire. 

The post Enkindled Spirits: Lexie Hill appeared first on American Youth Foundation.

Sidney Keys III is an eighth grader at Loyola Academy of St. Louis who attends Miniwanca each fall with his entire school. Throughout his experiences at Miniwanca, he has demonstrated excellent leadership and an inspiring energy in our community. He truly personifies what it means to be his own best self, and he inspires his classmates to do the same. Sidney is playful, kind, and passionate. These qualities enable him to make positive connections with the younger Loyola men, as well as his fellow eighth graders.

One of the most incredible examples of Sidney’s leadership is the book club he founded when he was only 10 years old. Books N Bros creates an environment where young African American boys can come together to read and connect over literature and positive community. Sidney’s group focuses on literature by and about African Americans and strives to combat the statistic that says black boys are at lower literacy rates than other groups.

After a visit to EyeSeeMe, an African American children’s bookstore in St. Louis, Sidney was inspired by the idea of bringing together a group of boys to talk about books. He picked a book and set a date, and Books N Bros began with just seven participants. Today the group has grown exponentially and has received national recognition, continuing to grow under Sidney’s leadership as the founder and “Head Bro in Charge.”

He has spread his passion for reading through interviews with CNN, Steve Harvey, and he even received a shout out from Oprah Winfrey. Since its inception, Books N Bros has continued to grow as more and more boys experience the joy of reading. The program now incorporates mentorship, teamwork, and community building as his peers come together. Sidney is an excellent example of an enkindled spirit, sharing his gifts with others as he makes a positive difference in the community.

Originally published in Founder Fire 2019

The post Enkindled Spirits: Sidney Keys III appeared first on American Youth Foundation.