Karma Connection: North Carolina Jaycee Burn Center

This quarter, we have chosen the Camp Celebrate, an outreach of the North Carolina Jaycee Burn Center, as our Karma Connection. Be on the lookout for donation classes, and meanwhile, read more about Camp Celebrate!

Camp Celebrate is a weekend camp for children ages 7–15 who have survived burn injuries. Created in 1982 in response to an inability to find traditional camping opportunities for a group of young burn patients at the North Carolina Jaycee Burn Center, Camp Celebrate was the first camping experience of its kind. Most campers have been treated at the Burn Center, but Camp Celebrate is open to any pediatric burn survivor in North Carolina. 

Activities include swimming, canoeing, arts and crafts, fishing, an annual Sunday family picnic, as well as an opportunity to meet other kids who share the experience of having been burned. A number of campers return year after year, and some have returned as adults to serve as counselors and share their experiences and knowledge with the children. 

Volunteers from across the state, including firefighters and Jaycees, join the Burn Center staff in providing campers a fun and enriching experience by serving as counselors, program staff, counselor-in-training mentors, and logistics assistants.

CYCo. instructor Blake Tedder is a burn survivor, a trained peer supporter for burned patients and their families, and a counselor every year at Camp Celebrate.