Fall Quarterly News From HCAF HCAF Fall Quarterly News!Hello Heritage Camps Families and Friends- Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you are looking forward to time with family and friends as this busy holiday season begins. Wait, what am I saying? Seems to begin before Halloween these days, so hope you're having a great holiday season already! Not to mention that November is National Adoption Month, so it is a time to celebrate for all of us with adoption in our lives as well! This quarter includes news about a Spring Break cruise, exciting information about an Adoption Museum Project, a call for participants in a study about adoptees and genetic testing (hot topic!), 2018 camp dates and locations, and the quarterly "Why We Dot IT" and "The Camp Impact" columns. This quarter we also talk about the season of giving. Every year HCAF needs to raise roughly $250,000 above and beyond the program fees we charge for camp. That is so we can keep those program fees reasonable for families, provide scholarships for those who need some financial assistance to attend camp, and continue the authentic, meaningful camp experiences we are known for. There are so many ways to give in any amount that works for your family, and we have 10 ways to show you how! So, take a little break before the turkey day festivities take over, and read on! Oh and speaking of festivities, EVERY camp has a Facebook page. We'd love to see your family's Thanksgiving traditions and frivolities, so please share away, and in the meantime see all the information being posted about adoption, transracial families, culture, etc. Just search FB by the camp name! Pam Sweetser, Executive Director 2018 Camps - Dates and InformationPlease click on the links below for information about the 2018 camps. Some of this information is subject to change, such as hotel information for the Denver camps, but overall this information will help you plan for next summer. PLEASE DO NOT RESERVE LODGING BEFORE YOU REGISTER FOR CAMP. You'll get information after you register in order to get our group rates at each site. But if you find a good airfare, book it! The dates won't change. What a great holiday gift - "hey kids, we're going to Heritage Camp!" 10 Easy Ways to Give!When indicated, your donation wil go directly to the camp you attend and/or support. Every dollar counts, and you can and will make a difference for your camp with your gift! Thank you! 1) Donate NOW for Colorado Gives Day! You can your gift TODAY for Colorado Gives Day (December 5), our biggest fundraiser of the year! Your donation will count towards the $1 Million Incentive Fund and cash prize tallies for Colorado Gives Day. It doesn’t matter what state or country you live in, you can donate to this incentive fun. Our goal is to raise $48,000 in one day this year. You can help! CLICK HERE to schedule your donation! 2) Make it a Monthly Donation! Starting at just $10 a month, you can allow your camp to make long-term commitments to projects, producing sustainable impact over time. Choose December 5 as the start date when you schedule your monthly recurring donation. CLICK HERE to schedule a monthly gift. 3) Shop at Amazon much this time of year? Use Amazon Smile. You simply go to this link: https://smile.amazon.com/, and select Heritage Camps for Adoptive Families to support, then shop away! We get a small percentage of your purchase, and it helps, to the tune of nearly $1,000 so far this year. 4) How about grocery shipping? Buy a pre-loaded Kroger Card from us for a mere $5 and then load it up every time you shop! We also get a small percentage from Kroger, but these donations really add up - $5600 so far, this year! Buy your card HERE and we’ll get it right out in the mail to you! Also, great gift ideas for college kids, friends, neighbors, etc. 5) Missing camp? If you have yet to purchase a Memory Package, they are all ready to go for every camp with hundreds of great photos, plus the Closing Ceremony slide shows. Cost is DISCOUNTED through December 31. Normally $35, now just $25. Purchase the Memory Package here, and we’ll send you the link and refund $10 on your credit card. Wow, $13,000 this year so far and counting…such a great way to share and remember camp! 6) Does our company have a Matching Gift Program? Many do these days – not only for cash donations, but also for volunteer hours. If you’ve bene to camp, you’ve been a volunteer for us! So far this year. We’ve received $3500 in matching gifts. It all adds up! 7) Another great way to donate through your work is United Way or other corporate giving plans. Please consider designating HCAF this year as you make those gifts. $4500 this year, with more to come! 8) Do you have an old clunker in the driveway it’s time to part ways with? Donate to HCAF through Vehicles for Charities! Each year we receive between $1,000 and $3,000 in car donations, which is again, such an easy way to give! They even come and haul the old clunker off for you! 9) Stocks or bonds are also a great way to give, as you gain tax benefits by making your gift a charitable deduction, please contact us for more information about donating this way. 10) Spread the Love! Please let your friends and family know they can also donate to an organization that means so much to you and your family. It is heartwarming how many grandparents, aunts, uncles, neighbors, friends give in family’s names to HCAF each year. The more the merrier! IMPORTANT NOTE: yes you'll be hearing from us a fair amount in the next couple of weeks as we strive to reach our Colorado Gives Day goal. We try very hard not to drive you crazy with emails, but if we do, PLEASE DO NOT UNSUBSCRIBE! if you do, you will also no longer receive pertinent camp information, even after you have registered for camp next year! Thank you! Arts + AdvocacyThis new video describes our most recent project: Arts + Advocacy: Citizenship for All Adoptees. We're thrilled to share it with you, a valued member of the Adoption Museum Project community. Laura Callen Founder/Director Cruisin' with HCAF in 2018!Above is a picture of cruisers from a few years ago. It is always a blast to cruise with fellow campers! Join us on the twin of the largest cruise ship in the world for a 7 night Eastern Caribbean cruise March 18-25, 2018 The Allure of the Sea will visit Nassau, St. Thomas and St. Kitts. Join the HCAF Family, travel with families from other camps, support HCAF and also the economies of the islands affected by Storms Irma and Maria So much to do for all ages- flow riders, Zipline. Ice and Aqua shows as well as Broadway shows and 18 restaurants. Starting at $800 per person is tax- includes your food, room, entertainment, kids and tern clubs and more!!! A portion of your fees will be donated back to HCAF! Early bird savings if deposited $250 per person by 11/18. Call: Jan Kief 303-808-5325 or Justin Kief 323-397-2731. Cruise Planners American Express Research Study: International Adoptees’ Views on Genetic TestingYou are invited to participate in a research study regarding international adoptees’ views on genetic testing and how they affect birth family and ethnic heritage thoughts. This study is conducted by Christina Garasky, Amy Verrando, (both international adoptees), and Dr. Richard M. Lee in the Department of Psychology at University of Minnesota. You are potentially eligible if you are: (1) Internationally adopted (2) Between the ages of 18-35 years old. The study consists an online survey. You will be compensated with a $10 Amazon gift card for completing the study. If you are interested in participating, or have any further questions, please email familee@umn.edu for more information. Why We Do It!I was given the opportunity to write an article for Adoption Today magazine commemorating their 20th anniversary. It gave me a moment to reflect on why we do what we do at HCAF, and to marvel at the fact that we'll be going into our 27th year in 2018! I remember distinctly when the dearly departed Dick Fischer, called me to say he was starting this magazine. He had been attending Chinese Heritage Camp with his family for a couple of years by then, and wanted to be sure we were included in this new venture of his. What a worthwhile venture it was! Here is a quick excerpt from the article. READ MORE HERE. It is a FREE online subscription for this issue, and the rest of the articles are good reads as well. It is a great way to celebrate National Adoption Month! Much has changed in the world of adoption over the past 20 years. As Executive Director of Heritage Camps for Adoptive Families for longer than that, and an adoptive parent for even longer, I have seen such a difference in how adoptive parents are educated & enlightened, how adult adoptees are engaged and advocating, how adoption professionals are proactive and attentive. There are resources out there for those of us in the adoption world that never existed before, most very good resources, and a few misguided ones too. Over the past 26 years , we have been very fortunate at Heritage Camps for Adoptive Families to hear many of these voices in person at the camps, some of whom we discovered right here in the pages of “Adoption Today” over the years. Or, once in awhile I’d get a call from Dick Fischer telling me who we had to invite to one camp or another. I always listened to him. Oh yes there were a few misses, but most of them were hits, and some of those incredibly giving people have become lifelong friends of Heritage Camps. I am eternally grateful for that. The Camp Impact!Just a few more posts from our #CulturallyConnectedKids campaign on Facebook. So many ways those four days a summer have an impact for life! Many families travel back to their child's birth countries, but those who do after having had the "camp experience" talk about a comfort level that would maybe not have existed for them without camp. They also say when they meet other traveling adoptive families, they sometimes notice the culture shock the families experience having delved into it for the first time abroad. From Liz Fallon, camp parent: |