Summer Camp

When The Charlotte Observer, with help from the nonprofit Partners in Out-of-School Time, launched a fundraiser this spring to send low-income children to summer camp, no one knew whether the idea would fly in a troubled economy.

Homesickness is a big part of that first trip to sleep-away camp. But feeling it – and overcoming it – is a healthy part of growing up.

Conner Davis's appetite for all things sports keeps him hungry: “My mom says sometimes I eat her out of the house.”

Members of the small volunteer group devoted to helping children in Kannapolis saw The Summer Camp Fund as another way to give.

Mornings were filled with land games – hiking and archery, arts and crafts, sports, and the zip line.

Some of the city's best-known leaders have set aside time this summer to enjoy storybooks.

Thirteen-year-old Breondra Newman isn't exactly sure of the moment this week when bugs became entertainment – rather than something to shriek about – at Girl Scout camp here in the mountains of Rutherford County, 80 miles west of Charlotte.

Donors help Destiny hear the best of summer at Camp Spencer.

Gwendolyn Moore breathes a sigh of relief whenever the YMCA bus picks up her son, John January, for a Wednesday evening program.

Summer camp can be daring, memorable, life-changing – for those who can afford to go.