A group of fifth-graders clambers over rocks through a forest of pines. Reaching out to touch the tree’s needles, they confirm that these are ponderosa pines. Led by a high-school guide, the students are encouraged to touch, smell and experience the landscape firsthand.
This is the world of Camp Tamarack, a major hub of Outdoor School in Central Oregon that is set on beautiful Dark Lake in the Deschutes National Forest. Once a Depression-era horse camp for girls, the camp was virtually defunct in 2013 when a nonprofit purchased it to revive Camp Tamarack.
“We had this vision we could bring it back to life and offer outdoor school and summer camp to kids in our community,” said Charlie “Peanut” Anderson, Camp Director.
Right off the bat, the camp received a Gray Family Foundation award in 2013 to put in a filtration system, because the camp had no running water.
Then the kids came. At that time in Central Oregon, only a handful of schools were able to go to Outdoor School, or about 500 youth in Jefferson, Crook and Deschutes County.
“Jump forward six years, we now see 40 schools and 2,500 kids,” Charlie says. “So we’re basically serving 99 percent of kids in our community with outdoor school now.”
With additional funding from the Gray Family Foundation, the camp has been able to provide scholarships for families of fifth- and sixth-graders that otherwise wouldn’t be able to attend three magical days at Outdoor School.
“We wanted to serve all kids,” he says.
The camp is also transformative for 400-500 high schoolers each year, who get to attend camp as mentors and cabin chaperones. Through activities like canoeing, archery, campfires and other team-building activities in the woods, students build a deeper connection to their classmates and community, and gain confidence in themselves.
“It is an opportunity for them to be young leaders, role models and teachers, learning about themselves,” Charlie says. Many high schoolers use the experience as a springboard for other life opportunities, like coming back to work as summer camp counselors, earning high school credit or applying for college.
From getting the camp off the ground to continued scholarships and maintenance, the Gray Family Foundation is a proud partner of Camp Tamarack.
“I will be forever grateful for the Gray Family for being there from the beginning, but also that continued support.”