ABOUT
There is a joyful spirit about Camp Sunshine that is transformative for every person who participates. We promote through words and actions a culture that honors each person with total acceptance and unconditional love.
Since 1983, Camp Sunshine has offered individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities summer camp experiences in a safe, caring, and inclusive environment. We offer multiple programs designed to meet the participants’ recreational, emotional, physical, spiritual, and relational needs. Uniquely, each camper is paired one-to-one with a volunteer counselor. Camp Sunshine creates spaces for campers and volunteers to feel included, learn from each other, and grow in friendship.
There is something sacred about being part of a group where everyone is loved and accepted “just the way they are.”
Our Vision
To make the world outside of Camp Sunshine a more affirming and inclusive place by inspiring agents of change with transforming experiences and relationships.
Our Mission
To offer experiences that model and nurture a culture of inclusion, grace, and joy, through which people with and without disabilities can transcend barriers and value both their own gifts and the talents of others.
Our Values
Inclusive: We create a sense of belonging and cohesion by intentionally welcoming, valuing, embracing, and accepting all with great gladness.
Grace-filled: Grace allows for the vulnerability that engenders authenticity. It is freely given (“Just be.”), sufficient for all (“I am enough.”), and unconditional (“You are loved just the way you are.”).
Empowering: We are called to be our best and to invite others to be their best. For empowerment, we value clear, open communication; working side by side and honoring each unique contribution; and trusting intentional decision-making.
Transformative: Experiencing the beauty and abilities of each individual transforms our hearts and minds when we become more open to and less judgmental of those who are different from us; Desires by increasing our motivation to give, advocate, and collaborate with others in ways we might have previously overlooked; Worldviews in the active awareness that people are more similar than different; Relationships as we have increased compassion for ourselves and others and an increased awareness of and desire for strong, authentic relationships.
Inspirational: The Camp Sunshine experience shapes people’s lives, affecting future causes and trajectories. People are encouraged to work toward an environment of authentic love, compassion, and understanding.
Belief Statement
Continually embracing inclusive love has led Camp Sunshine to welcome all faiths and traditions, developing a culture of care and affirmation for one another. Our roots, which many of our campers, staff, and volunteers share, are in the Christian tradition; we are independent of religious affiliations.
Recognizing the holy within each person is at the core of our relationships and community life at Camp Sunshine. That spirituality is foundational to our support of physical, social, and emotional growth.
We are led by our campers’ beliefs, values, and needs, inviting everyone to a broader experience. We spend time in discovery, learning from a range of spiritual traditions. The messages we share speak of love, inclusion, compassion, and care for ourselves and all creation.
