For more than 90 years, the Rotary Club of Kansas City, Missouri, USA, has been rallying all corners of the community to help thousands of kids attend camp. Club 13, as it is locally known, made the first donation to The Rotary Foundation, $26.50 in 1917, and its members continue to model Rotary’s passion for taking action and bringing ideas to life. 

 

In 1920, it started off as a summer camp for needy boys after the closing of a Boys Hotel in the city with a similar mission. The facility evolved into a special needs camp in the 1940s when Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts began using it for Scouts with disabilities. That focus broadened a decade later to all children with disabilities. Average $6,000 kids go to the camp each year.

 

 

For the past 30 years, the Rotary club has been uniting the community, the Kansas City Star newspaper, and the Kansas City Royals baseball organization for a giant fundraising event, Greater Kansas City Day. Since the Royals won the World Series in 2015, the event has raised close to $250,000 for the camp, enough to cover its budget when combined with investment earnings from the camp’s foundation.