Camp Opportunity 2017 Annual Report

IN THE FUTURE

Every year, there are thousands of children in Maryland who are suf- fering abuse and/or neglect. We feel compelled to step up to the task of serving each and every one of them in some fashion. Whether we can offer them the full program we currently provide, or if it is some- thing other than that, we intend to work toward the condition where each child who is the victim of abuse or neglect or (in many cases) both – can find value in our organization. This goal is a big one, but we are diligently working to find a path to a fuller, more robust level of success. Our five-year strategic plan calls us to serve at least 150 children by the year 2020. With our “one-to-one” ratio of campers to staff, this will require better connections with the public, significant fundraising and a great deal of effort. Although we have proudly been a volunteer-run organization for more than 30 years, we recognize we will need a dedicated staff in order to triple our capacity. Therefore, we are seeking a funding source to allow Camp Opportunity to pay a full time Executive Director. We will also need an Executive Assistant to coordinate follow up, schedule meetings and interviews, and facilitate the interactions between our staff of volunteers, as well as with the Departments of Social Services in Baltimore and the surrounding counties. Finally, it is clear to us that a dedicated campground is in our future. With the large numbers of children in need of Camp Opportunity, and the “scale” of addressing such a large number of programs and campers, we hope soon to find a property that can be offered to us and dedicated to camps all summer long for abused and neglected children. This will, or course, require a full time summer staff, with new groups of children coming and going each week of the summer.

We have a lot of work to do, and we are seek- ing support from all available sources to move toward serving ALL children who are abused and neglected in Maryland. All of the above increases are necessary if we are to succeed at our mission to break the cycle of child abuse and neglect in Maryland. This goal is a big one, but we are diligently working to find a path to a fuller, more robust level of success. “

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