Summer Camp Fund

Conner Davis spent all summer at Camp Chi-ro in Gastonia, and was glad of it.

With brand new hiking boots, and goals – “I really want to do the rock slide” -- 11-year-old Jop Enuol of Charlotte was all ready for Camp Celo.

The Summer Camp Fund is a fundraising initiative by the Charlotte Observer and the nonprofit Partners in Out-of-School Time to send low-income children in Charlotte and surrounding counties to summer camp. Send donations to: The Summer Camp Fund, P.O. Box 37269, Charlotte, NC 28237-7269.

To hear campers like Breondra Newman tell it, even the salamanders are cute at Camp Golden Valley, the 600-acre outdoor camp in the mountains 80 miles west of Charlotte.

Camp Spencer in Concord is a familiar place to Maurice Hopper Jr. The grass fields for dodge ball. The outdoor pool for swimming and scuba diving lessons.

Here's the neat thing Destiny McRae discovered about Camp Spencer last summer – she can return anytime to the Concord park since it's open year-round.

With hiking, archery and arts and crafts in the morning, and water play in the afternoons, nine-year-old Isaac Willett stayed busy during his time at Camp Thunderbird in Lake Wylie.

Chatty lines of children padding off to arts and crafts.

Like many boys his age, 11-year-old Cody Ronan loved reading about adventures. But he got a bit nervous last spring when he learned he'd have a big summer adventure of his own: a week at Camp Thunderbird on Lake Wylie.