Braid has a long relationship with St. Dorothy’s Rest, a wonderful summer camp beautifully situated in the redwoods of Sonoma County. This summer, it will have been five years since we first started taking Braid youth to St. Dorothy’s.

One silver lining of COVID is that when camps cautiously re-opened last summer, they had to host smaller numbers of campers. As a result, Braid had its very own session of summer camp at St. Dorothy’s Rest. Many of you very generously donated to that effort, and it was a transformative experience for all of us (including the camp staff and the two Braid directors who served as chaplains for the week).

This year camp will be mostly back to “normal” (with plenty of safety precautions, of course), and our youth will get to attend St. Dorothy’s regular sessions with other campers from around the Bay Area and beyond.

Last year, Braid Camp hosted 15 young people, which included three sets of siblings. St. Dorothy’s normally has a separate week of camp for teens ages 13-15, and the other sessions host youth ages 8-12. Because of the unusual circumstances last year, our special week of camp was able to encompass Braid youth ages 8-16.

This year, about a third of those youth have aged out of St. Dorothy’s regular sessions, but one is returning to work all summer as a junior counselor! A few others decided not to return this year since they would be separated from their siblings in different camp sessions (something youth who have been in foster care are particularly sensitive to). And the rest are counting down the days until they get to go back to camp!

Braid Camp was a wonderful way to introduce a large percentage of our youth to the joys of camp. This year they already know the routines, the layout, and the words to the camp songs.

We have no doubt they will have even more fun this year trying more new things and being held in a wider circle of friends.

Help Braid support our campers by joining our 2022 Camp Fundraiser that covers the cost of their attendance. Raising $5,000 is our goal this month, and you can help us get there as we help our youth get to St. Dorothy’s this summer.

St. Dorothy’s is one of the most beautiful camps in America, nestled in the redwoods of Sonoma County. Built in 1901, it is the oldest camp in California.