Mt. Hood Kiwanis Camp Celebrates 80th Anniversary

Mt. Hood Kiwanis Camp

Mt. Hood, July 25th, 2013. The idea that everyone deserves the chance to attend a fun summer camp is the concept which launched Mt. Hood Kiwanis Camp 80 years ago. This week, the camp celebrated its anniversary and the big bash drew hundreds of supporters.

The 80th anniversary celebration included a barbecue and the beloved camp skits.

Visitors spent time looking through historical photos.

Mt. Hood Kiwanis Camp in the 1930s.

Camper Emily with her counselor.

Nestled in the forest near Rhododendron, Camp Kiwanis serves about 630 campers every summer. While having fun, campers learn new social skills, independence and confidence.

Guests look through the camp archives

Here’s a collection of some photos from the past:

Vintage Mt. Hood Kiwanis Camp

From Mt. Hood Kiwanis Camp:

We offer children and adults with disabilities an opportunity to leave behind their routine lives and taste the freedom of the outdoors – to go beyond limits that they, and others, have set for them.

We provide a caring, welcoming environment where campers are challenged to do their best, yet their special and personal needs are met.

For counselors who work with campers one-on-one, it’s often a life-changing experience. For campers, it’s “a little piece of heaven”.

Kiwanis Name
The name “Kiwanis” means “we trade” or “we share our talents.” It was coined from an American Indian expression, Nunc Kee-wanis.

Kiwanians are volunteers changing the world through service to children and communities. Kiwanis members help shelter the homeless, feed the hungry, mentor the disadvantaged, and care for the sick. They develop youth as leaders, build playgrounds, raise funds for pediatric cancer research, and much more. No problem is too big or too small. Why? Because working together, members achieve what one person cannot accomplish alone.

When you give a child a chance to learn, experience, dream, and succeed, great things happen!
As Kiwanis clubs and members, we see it everyday!

Elisa Klein

I’ve been a professional journalist and writer since 1987, (and long-time reporter for KOIN-TV.) As a nationally published reporter, with a Master’s Degree in Journalism, I love to report positive news and information. Journalism has also connected me with another non-profit where I served as a leader; the Northwest’s biggest writer’s organization: The Willamette Writers.