From the Desk of Dan Doty
Why does a homeless shelter have a residential summer camp?My daughter Anne, a student at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, volunteers in a low-income housing complex. She sends us prayer requests for the children she and other students work with each week. Some of the stories are nearly unimaginable.
In such neighborhoods (like many we minister in right here in Kansas City), children often move quickly from innocent youths to troubled teens. Parents frequently have no idea about what a good parent looks like because they too were raised in troubled homes. As a result, their children are very needy, yet don't know the right way to ask for help. Many don't even know they need help.
Somehow, this vicious cycle of dysfunction and despair has to end. Enter: a rescue mission residential camp.
Many of the children who attend Camp CUMCITO (City Union Mission’s Camp In The Ozarks) are from families that desperately need the stabilizing influence of the Mission. Camp gives parents a much-needed break while their children learn there is another way to live.
Camp is tremendous fun, and our campers learn early on that our staff loves them unconditionally. At camp, kids begin to obey, listen and respond well to others, cooperate, manage conflict appropriately, and gain many other life skills that often aren't taught in their homes. The experience they have at camp is invaluable in helping them end the cycle of misery.
Thank you for caring, giving and praying. You help make Camp CUMCITO possible!
Rev. Daniel J. Doty
Executive Director
