In May, Camp Florida completed its fourth year and kicked off the UYC Camp season. It was held once again at the beautiful Florida Elks youth camp just outside of Orlando, Florida and ran from May 27–31. We had 63 preteen campers along with 55 adults, 31 teen staff and nine mini campers. This was the largest camp we have had so far. It was a truly inspiring week as we were once again able to get into the Zone and enjoy a week away from the outside world.

Our camp saw God’s blessings and protection every day. The week was full of fun, while providing our campers an environment to learn about God’s way of life. This year’s theme, “Stand Strong,” gave an opportunity for our campers to learn that God has given us all the protection we need for spiritual battle (Ephesians 6:11).

Each day started out with Christian living, ended with an evening Compass Check and nightly dorm parent time. All campers participated in lots of fun activities like swimming, canoeing, sports, dance, archery, water games, woodcraft and arts and crafts. New this year was a bounce house and a team-building activity where all the dorms were challenged to use simple objects like dominos, marbles and ping pong balls to complete a simple task. The campers’ favorite activities were tie-dye shirts, gaga ball, big swing and our campfire program which consisted of yummy s’mores, corn on the cob and a fun singalong with “Fred the Moose.” Our camp ended with a camp-wide wooden car derby race in which campers raced the cars they built in woodcraft workshop. A highlight was a special service project to clean about 600 plastic portable lockers for the facility’s upcoming summer camp program.

Camp has led to close friendships for our campers and staff that will last well after camp is over. It was another great year, and we are looking forward to camp in 2025!