Spreading the Holiday Cheer: Campgrounds Supporting Charities

Guadalupe
River RV Resort in Kerrville, Texas is a popular place for Winter Texans,
many of whom celebrate Christmas dinner with one another in the park’s
pavilion.

But while returning Winter Texans always enjoy seeing each other,
the guests of honor at Christmas dinner are children from K’Star, an
emergency shelter for children in protective custody due to a variety of
difficult situations.

For the past nine years, Guadalupe River RV Resort co-owner Don
Temple has been inviting children from the K’Star children’s shelter to
celebrate the holidays with Winter Texans at his resort.

“We collect toys and food and money and the kids come and have
Christmas dinner with us,” said Gloria Gober, Temple’s
assistant.

Temple has a special empathy for children who live in shelters,
having grown up as an orphan and lived in poverty for most of his
youth.

Through hard work, Temple left his early life of poverty behind.
But he hasn’t forgotten what life is like for children in difficult
circumstances and he frequently organizes fundraising events as well as
special activities to provide children with home cooked meals, gifts and
cheer during the holidays.

Across North America, campgrounds, RV parks and resorts support a
variety of charitable causes, not only during the holidays but throughout the
year.

Campgrounds affiliated with Jellystone Park Camp-Resorts (www.campjellystone.com)
often hold fundraising events in support of Camp Sunshine (www.campsunshine.com),
a nationwide network of campgrounds that provide respite, support, joy and
hope to children with life-threatening illnesses and their immediate
families.

The year-round program is free of charge to all families and
includes 24-hour-medical and psychosocial support. Bereavement sessions are
also provided to families who have lost a child to an
illness.

Individual Jellystone Parks support other charities as well. The
Jellystone Park in Caledonia, Wis. (www.jellystone-caledonia.com),
for example, is planning a 5K run on May 9, which will be used to raise funds
for Ronald McDonald House (www.rmhc.org),
which provides a variety of special services to children and their
families.

Campgrounds affiliated with Kampgrounds of America (www.koa.com), for their
part, often do fundraising for KOA Care Camps (www.koacarecamps.org),
which provide funding support to camps that support children with cancer.
This year, in fact, KOA raised $1 million through its fundraising efforts,
which were provided to 96 cancer camps throughout North America, said Karen
McAndrew, the executive secretary of KOA Care Camps, who also co-owns and
operates the Cardinal / Ottawa South KOA in Ontario, Canada.

McAndrew said the cancer camps provide unique activities and
support for children with cancer and their families.

“They have support groups not only for the cancer victims, but for
the siblings who feel that all of the attention goes to the child who is
suffering from cancer,” McAndrew said.

“Ninety nine percent of the staff in cancer camps are volunteers,”
McAndrew added. “They are usually doctors and nurses who use their vacation
time to volunteer. A lot of the counselors are also cancer
survivors.”

RV resorts affiliated with Chicago-based Equity Lifestyle
Properties (www.rvonthego.com)
also support a number of charitable causes, from local food banks to hospice
centers and veterans service organizations, in addition to other charitable
initiatives that have been created through their guests’
initiatives.

Fiesta Grande RV Resort in Casa Grande, Ariz., for example,
collects used eye glasses for the Lion’s Club, whose volunteers are known for
recycling eye glasses so that they can provided to needy individuals in
developing countries.

Fiesta Grande also has a quilters club, which donates quilts to
hospitalized children. Park guests also take up collections to pay for
electric wheelchairs for handicapped children.