Ann Arbor nonprofit helps kids experience summer camp for free

The Ann Arbor nonprofit Washtenaw Camp Placement (WCP), founded in 1962, helps kids ages 9 to 16 experience the transformative experience of sleepaway summer camp by providing their families with the necessary financial resources and support. WCP primarily serves families in Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, and has partnerships with six Michigan YMCA summer camps. 

"We pay for the camp. We help people organize logistics. We help with the paperwork, which can be quite complex. And we assist with transportation," says WCP Executive Director Matthew Tarver-Wahlquist. 

The nonprofit also gathers and distributes donations of equipment necessary for participants' camping experiences.
courtesy Matthew Tarver-WahlquistWCP Executive Director Matthew Tarver-Wahlquist.
"If you're going away to camp, you also need to bring a sleeping bag, a rain poncho, bug spray, and things like that," Tarver-Wahlquist says.

An ongoing partnership with the Kiwanis Club of Ann Arbor Foundation assists with a lot of these material items. 

"They donate dozens and dozens of sleeping bags," Tarver-Wahlquist says. 

Community members can also make financial donations and support kids’ camp experiences by purchasing items from the organization’s wish list.

Participating camps set aside placements for WCP, and the nonprofit recruits campers through referrals from school districts and nonprofits like Peace Neighborhood Center, Community Action Network, and Big Brothers Big Sisters. Referring organizations' staffers suggest kids they think would benefit from the experience and may not otherwise have the opportunity. Families fill out an application, and so does the referrer.

"We used to prioritize unique camp attendees, meaning that if you went to camp last year, you would be a lower priority to get a placement the next year," Tarver-Wahlquist says. "But we were exposed to research that showed the benefits of camp compound upon themselves and build over time, so now we prioritize camp alumni and have kids who are going back year after year."

WCP serves around 120-130 local families per year. According to Tarver-Wahlquist, more than 80% of camperships are awarded to Black, Indigenous, Hispanic, Asian, and other people of color.

Kayla Bopp of Ann Arbor will send her fourth and final child off to camp thanks to WCP this summer, following in their siblings' footsteps.
Doug CoombeKayla Bopp.
"My eldest is doing counselor training this year, which is great for him," Bopp says. "He really enjoys it, and talked about going back and working there in the summer after a few years as an attendee."

While Bopp wasn’t initially sure how camp would go, especially for her family’s more reserved and anxious kids, even the quiet ones blossomed through the experience. They also found the camp experience to be inclusive of all genders.

"I would recommend it to anybody," Bopp says. "Of course, it is kind of hard the first time they go. I wasn’t really sure it was going to work out, since it was their first time being far away from home, but everything went well."

Bopp says her kids have also had ample time to "plan and prepare for no screen time" during camp.
Doug CoombeBack row: Kayla Bopp, Alex Christopher, and Joel Christopher. Front row: Joel Christopher, Juliette Christopher, and Ray Christopher.
"I was really worried about that, but all my kids have done great," she says. 

Tarver-Wahlquist says WCP's work is important because "camp matters," and just one week of it can "give someone who may have very little experience with the natural world a whole new view of it."

"Maybe someone has never sung around a campfire or seen the Milky Way in full splendor overhead without light pollution," he says. "We are able to give them an immersive experience with archery, horseback riding, climbing things, swimming in lakes, canoeing, and all that. We really want to blow kids' minds and show them whole new possibilities within themselves and the world."

Jenny Rose Ryan (she/they) is a writer, editor, and communications consultant who has more than 20 years of experience sharing complicated and compelling stories. She is based in Ypsilanti.

Photos by Doug Coombe.