In 4 weeks we kick off our 2nd summer of Grit Camp - a summer sports camp dedicated to help build more Grit in young people through sports. This time last summer we didn't even know if we'd have a facility to use because of Covid, and we had 2 sign ups at this point last year. This year we have 6 weeks of camp scheduled, and we have had an incredible response in the amount of sign ups. Colby has been coming to Jacksonville each Friday, and he and Jen and I have been making and hand delivering each kid's 'Grit gear' for camp. It includes their water bottle with their name on it, a t-shirt, and a hand written note from us. We text the moms and let them know we will swing by after school to deliver it to their kid. It's a great way for us to meet our future camper before camp, introduce ourselves to the parents, and get them excited about what will be the best part of their child's summer! We also offer mom's a $10 Starbuck's gift card if they take a picture of their child with their Grit gear and post it on social media. It's been a great way to increase signups and help spread the word about our mission.
We are even more excited about the incredible group of counselors we have recruited for the summer to work with us. One of our goals of Grit Camp is to be the best place to work for a high school/ college age person. Most high school students are required to have 100 hours of service hours, so we offer our counselors the chance to fulfill that requirement or get hourly pay or a combination of both. Right now we have about 15 counselors committed for the summer. 3 will be playing college sports, several are very successful current high school athletes or coaches, and several are already very entrepreneurial. We have created a summer work environment where they get to play sports, further instill positive principles in young people, and be around a group of highly energetic and inspiring future leaders. Each day we feature excellent food from a different local restaurant and watch an inspirational movie to further promote our principles. We will also have some incredible guest speakers come to camp over the course of the summer as well (stay tuned for that!) Also, this past week we just hired our videographer from last summer to work with us about 20-30 hours per week capturing video content for us to be able to use for a variety of purposes.
An additional piece we are introducing for our Grit University interns is developing sales skills through offering corporate and individual sponsorships for camp. Sponsors can either contribute a tax-deductible donation to our facility at RPDS or they can sponsor a scholarship for a child (or several) to come to camp for a week. So we will actively be looking for people/organizations that want to make an impact on the lives of young people in their community.
Stay tuned for more updates from Grit Camp!
Here are some social media posts from some of our camper's moms after delivering their Grit gear