Foundation support kick-starts new Camp Quest Chesapeake

Third-quarter beneficiary Camp Quest gave us this report on how the funds they received from Foundation Beyond Belief will help them with their ongoing work.

For an organization with a small budget like Camp Quest, the $2,470 donation from the Foundation Beyond Belief makes a huge difference. Camp Quest operates almost entirely on volunteer labor, and currently we have volunteers starting new camps in a few locations. It takes about $5,000 in seed money to get a new camp started. We give out grants of $2,500 to get our volunteers halfway there, and they match that amount by raising the rest of the funds from local supporters. The $2,470 from Foundation Beyond Belief almost entirely funds our start-up grant to Camp Quest Chesapeake, which is having its first session in summer 2011 in Virginia.

In 2010, Camp Quest had more campers attend camp than ever before, and some of our locations even had to start a waiting list because they reached capacity. Launching new camps helps us meet this increasing demand and provides parents with options to send their children to camp closer to home.

We want to thank Foundation Beyond Belief for selecting Camp Quest, and we want to thank all of the members of the foundation for their generosity. It means a lot to us to see a community of atheists, humanists, and other freethinkers coming together to support our program along with so many other worthy organizations.

Amanda K. Metskas
Executive Director, Camp Quest, Inc.