Camp: A Movie Review

 I had the opportunity to preview the movie coming out this spring "Camp".  It is a movie about giving hope and healing to foster children in the United States by sending them to camp for 1 week every summer. This movie is based on true events from Royal Family Kids Camp. Royal Family Kids is a 501(c)(3) non-profit which is the nations leading network of camps for abused, neglected and abandoned children. They encourage churches to sponsor camps for children in need in their own communities.

Camp begins by bringing us into the life of a child, Eli, that has recently been placed in foster care due to the neglect and abuse he has experienced by his mother. His mother ultimately ends up overdosing, leaving Eli without a mother and only a neglectful, abusive father that floats in and out of his life. He goes to camp only to be paired with camp counselor Ken, who is at camp for ulterior motives of his own. To advance his career, which is very profitable, filled with all the luxuries this life has to offer. Despite Ken and Eli's attempts at not forming a relationship...one soon forms and the story takes a different turn when both let their guards down and jump into the pool. The pool is when trust really begins for Eli...he learns he can trust this man that has come into his life, not like any adult he has seen thus far. And for Ken he begins to see that there really are more important things in life than the material possessions he holds tightly.  He learns the importance of letting go of "things" and investing into a child with real needs.

The film shows all of us how the life of a child can be changed in just a week. How hope can be instilled in them when they begin to believe that they matter, they are special. Just think what would happen if we all invested more than a week into a child's life. Every child deserves a family...future...love and hope in this world. When people begin to realize that and embrace that idea, that is when the foster system...orphan care will no longer be needed. Just like Ken, we all need to let go of what doesn't matter....and begin to care about what truly matters, children with no place to call home. Children who don't know the love of a family. In Tennessee alone there are 9,017 foster children, 1700 of those children are adoptable. Nationwide there are approximately 104,000 foster children waiting to be adopted.  I am praying this film moves people into action....for a week or for a lifetime.

I enourage everyone to see this truly inspiring movie from the heart of people who have been at camp with these struggling children.  See the hope that comes to a child when adults take a week out of their lives to show them what it means to be valued and loved.

See if Camp will be coming to your city soon....
http://thecampmovie.com/pages/theaters.html

For His Glory,
Roberta