College Settlement Camp in Horsham celebrates 100 years of making an impact in kids' lives

Karyn Bonner, a former college student in Edinburgh, Scotland, first came to College Settlement Camp in 1988 to teach swimming, and fell in love with the kids and the mission.

“It’s a job where every day you can see the impact you’re making," she said.

College Settlement, a nonprofit organization located in Horsham, has been providing children from low-income families the opportunity to have an outdoor camp experience, regardless of affordability, for 100 years now.

Joshua Davis, assistant camp director, said the mission of the camp is to “provide all of these (camp) experiences within a safe environment for kids that would otherwise not have access.”

Through college, Bonner said she kept coming back to the camp because it delivered everything it said it was going to do on paper.

In 2013, she became the camp director.

“We create a bubble. We create a culture here that the young staff and kids are safe,” said Bonner. “We do everything we can to make them realize that this is their camp. It's not the staffs. It's not the boards.”

“Everyone is welcome," she added.

“A big thing we do is break down stereotypes. And you do it by being in a cold swimming pool together, tipping a canoe together and spending the night around the campfire together. It's been done here for a long time. And I just think there should be a lot more than that in the world.”

Similar to Bonner, Davis came a long way from Michigan to College Settlement.

Having heard about the camp from a friend, Davis said he decided to drive out to the camp during a snowstorm —without checking to see if he had the job first — and began working in the kitchen.

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While working his first day of summer camp and interacting with the kids, Davis remembered thinking, “yep, this is it.”

Corey Wood, a senior at La Salle University, said he’s been attending The College Settlement Camp for 12 years now.

Starting in 2008 as a camper, Wood said his experience at College Settlement has been a positive one and the camp allowed him to mature and grow into a good adult.

Last week, Wood, Bonner and Davis were among dozens of other camp staff and current and former campers to return to Horsham for the 90th annual June Supper.

After a two-year absence of the supper due to the coronavirus pandemic, the annual supper returned on June 9.

Dating back to 1932, a chicken supper has been provided for families of the campers and local Horsham community members on a Thursday in June as a way for former, current and future campers to gather and visit the camp for the upcoming camp season, which this year begins on Monday, June 20.

The event was filled with past and current campers, families, counselors and staff members who gathered to eat the infamous "chicken dinner", play various outdoor games, tour the camp, go on hayrides, bounce on the bouncy house and participate in the cash, bike and other basket raffles.

For Wood, attending College Settlement’s 90th June Supper wasn’t even a question. The annual June Supper has always been a tradition for him and an event he’s attended with friends and family.

Having started off as a camper from 2008 to 2014, Wood was also a counselor in training, a counselor and is now a camper advocate.

Being a part of this camp for 12 years now, Wood said his biggest takeaway has been the leadership skills he’s developed.

He said he’s learned how to work with others from a diverse background, how to work well with the staff and how to work with kids who might be difficult at times.

To him, this camp “brings your true personality out of you.”

'No kid is turned away' from Camp Settlement

Cousins Sofia and Kimaya Moore said their experiences at College Settlement have been really fun.

Kimaya, a sixth grader from South Philadelphia, said she’s been coming to the camp for seven years now and knew about this camp because her mom and grandma were both counselors in training.

The first time Kimaya saw how big the camp was and visited the goats and chickens, she said she knew this was going to be her camp.

Since coming to the camp, Kimaya said she’s been able to grow a lot of her relationships, become more athletic, caring and environmentally friendly.

Sofia, a seventh grader from Arizona who recently moved to be closer to the area, said she found out about the camp through her cousin.

For her, the camp helped her gain more social skills.

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Kimaya and Sofia said they looked forward to coming to the June Supper to see new campers and old friends.

“They had this camp for like a really long time and it's been growing from a small camp to a bigger area and everything,” said Sofia. “It’s fun seeing the evolution.”

Some of Wood’s favorite aspects about the camp are the staff and the camp’s outdoor nature.

Many of the staff members Camp Settlement brings in are international students and people from all over the world and Wood said it’s a great experience being able to learn about the ethnicity, culture and background that the staff brings.

For him, his favorite memory from the camp is the last night. Wood said by then he’s been able to get to know all his campers and see them grow and build relationships with one another.

On the last night of camp, Wood said the campers and counselors gather around the campfire and there's this feeling of "high energy" in the air as campers reminisce about their memories, share the underlining feeling of not wanting to leave camp and get ready to return the next year.

Overall, Wood said he’s grateful for all the years College Settlement has given him.

Despite the longevity of the camp, Bonner said some difficulties the camp faces are accessing those “invisible kids.”

Bonner said there are many kids that don’t know about College Settlement and there are families that aren’t aware they can apply for and receive scholarships to come to the camp.

"It's a tragedy," Bonner said.

One of the camp's founding principles is "no kid is turned away for inability to pay."

Being a nonprofit organization and receiving funds through support from the local community, donations and public events, Bonner said there's a "never ending" concern about finances.

A history of College Settlement

Inspired by the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic, Anna Freeman Davies founded the College Settlement Camp in 1922 to provide outdoor summer camp programs, schooling and weekend camping to people from the greater Philadelphia area.

The camp was also meant to continue the efforts of the 1892 College Settlement of Philadelphia, which "provided social, cultural and educational programs for the immigrants of South Philadelphia."

Starting June, 20 until Aug. 12, the 235-acre camp provides kids with the opportunity to learn how to swim or bike, go fishing and climbing, hike, participate in forest exploration, farm and garden projects, and play games like kickball, rugby or soccer along with other various outdoor activities.

The camp works to mix in environmental and traditional camp interests and allows kids to take home vegetables from the farms, eggs from the chickens in addition to visiting the donkeys, goats and bees at the camp.

Terry Dougherty, executive director of the camp, said despite the camp’s 100-year existence, people still don’t know about the camp and that’s something she hopes changes.

In a regular camp year, Dougherty said she's used to having 5,000 to 6,000 kids a year, but due to the pandemic, camp wasn't offered in 2020 and in 2021, and the camp's attendance was about half its regular numbers.

In addition, the camp's mandate of vaccinations has also affected the camp's numbers, according to Dougherty.

Dougherty said she’s always been involved with nonprofits and when she started her position in 2019, she said it felt like a family.

“It was one of those organizations that really tries to make kids feel welcome,” said Dougherty. “No matter who, no matter what background they’re from. They make them feel like they belong.”

The most rewarding part of her job is seeing the kids enjoying themselves and watching them learn new things.

When kids leave the camp, Dougherty said she hopes they leave having met new friends and a better understanding of the world around them.

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Dougherty said she believes College Settlement has been able to exist for so long due to the support of the community and board and having people continue to believe and stay true to the camp’s mission.

State Sen. Maria Collett, D-12, Lower Gwynedd, said the camp serves as a reminder that there are opportunities to “enrich children to make sure they are having these carefree days.”

“To be here to get an opportunity to be reminded that for children, it really is so basic as wanting to have a sense of belonging and wanting to have a sense of purpose,” said Collett. “And wanting to feel like you're part of the group. And that's what we're doing here. And it's really such a wonderful place.”

Bonner said she believes the camp has been around for 100 years due to foresight and because the camp stays true to what it says it’ll do for kids.

“We give them great memories,” Bonner said.

One thing she hopes the campers take away from this experience is realizing they are great kids and “every bit as good as everyone else.”

“You know that favorite vacation or that one time in your life, where the only thing you had to worry about was ‘Are you going to get the blue bike?’ Those are the kinds of concerns kids should have,” said Bonner. “The impact we have is we create a safe space for folks to kind of let their guard down and have a moment of fun.”

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: College Settlement Camp in Horsham celebrates 100 years