OUR IMPACT

With a name like Camp Laugh A Lot, it's clear that one of our intended impacts is that kids will have fun. Many of our campers come from very difficult home situations. Providing fun-filled carefree days in a nurturing and positive environment fills an important need. Camp is designed to provide an essential “window” at a critical time in children's lives. Studies have shown that children in grades 1 through 3 learn to read, whereas children grades four and up, read to learn. It is exactly at this juncture, i.e., between third and fourth grades (ages 8 to 10) that kids with special needs begin to show downturns if their needs are not recognized and addressed. It is at this critical time when extra attention is required for all children to set the stage for the rest of a child's life. Camp is a very small part of a child's life, a small window in time and space, but no matter how small, a window serves as an opening, and openings broaden horizons.

Impacts:

• Providing opportunities for Lakota children to learn about nature and indigenous knowledge of the natural world will enhance their appreciation of nature, and will encourage them to become involved in caring for the environment both in childhood and adulthood.
• Through carefully planned activities and approaches, and by providing a nurturing environment at Camp, children will build positive relations, and their self-image will be enhanced.
• By providing the opportunity for Lakota children to spend quality time in the Black Hills, this area will become more than a place they read and hear about. It will become a special place to them as individuals.
• Campers' will understand that everyone has something special to give and everyone can make a difference. Through their experiences with volunteering through Camp Laugh A Lot, young people will be inspired to adopt an approach that involves noticing who needs help, thinking of how one can help meet the needs of others, offering assistance, and organizing and implementing a self-help initiative. This experience will instill principles of self-help and of helping others that will be applied in both childhood and adulthood.