Camp offers hope for teens

Teenagers with visions of trouble-making dancing in their heads may have camp in their futures.

But the camp Kootenai County child welfare and juvenile justice workers are starting next month isn’t punitive. They’re starting TEAM Camp to demonstrate to kids considering a dalliance with the dark side that there are better choices.

“The lucky ones who attend will leave knowing themselves better, how to interact with other kids. They’ll have more self-esteem,” said Jim Crowley, a juvenile justice administrator with the state Department of Correction in Coeur d’Alene. “The bottom line is we might just salvage some of those kids from taking the wrong turn into the juvenile corrections system.”

TEAM Camp will run June 20-25 at Camp Sweyolaken on Lake Coeur d’Alene. The camp is the brainchild of Crowley, the Boys and Girls Club of Kootenai County, Kootenai Alliance for Children and Families, and Kootenai County Justice Services.

Twenty kids will attend at no cost to them or their families. High school counselors and adults running programs such as Project Safe Place will compile a list of appropriate teens, said camp coordinator Abby Brennan. Kids on that list may have many school absences and minor brushes with the law, and may run with a shady group with the potential to carry them the wrong direction.

Brennan found plenty of volunteers willing to work with the kids, add structure to their lives and show them that adults care about what happens to them. Camp Fire USA offered TEAM Camp its Lake Coeur d’Alene campgrounds at a great price, Brennan said.

The day before camp starts, local optometrists will check campers’ eyes for free. Brennan said she also worked into the week free physicals and dental checkups.

Kids will rise at 6 a.m. and start the day with calisthenics or martial arts exercises. They’ll cook and serve meals and clean up. They’ll try a ropes course. Retired U.S. Marines will teach survival techniques. Idaho Fish and Game will teach kids to fish, and the Coeur d’Alene Fire Department will teach CPR.

Activities will include firing pottery and line dancing, Dutch oven cooking and relaxation training.

“I’m just hoping to give them a taste of so many different resources and possibilities and broaden their minds and let them know the community really cares,” Brennan said. “They need to know there are people so willing to give of their time and listen to them.”

Camp will end June 25, but the experience will continue for two years. Brennan is working on mentors to match with each camper.

A similar camp in the Lewiston area inspired Crowley to push for Kootenai County’s TEAM Camp. Lewiston’s camp is in its ninth year this year. It’s a collaborative effort between the Lewiston Boys and Girls Club, state and county juvenile justice departments and city businesses.

John Triplett, Nez Perce County’s director of court services, has watched the camp evolve over eight years.

“One of my greatest pleasures is to continue to ask the county for dollars to help it out,” he said. “To know Kootenai County is going to take the lead to get it going in North Idaho is great. We’re nothing but supportive.”

The FBI’s western regional SWAT team volunteered at the Lewiston camp, and one officer stayed in touch with a camper for years afterward, Triplett said.

“If someone on a SWAT team can make that time to reach out to a kid, anyone can,” he said. “You never know when you’ll make a difference in the life of a child and you’re guaranteed to never make an impact if you never try.”

After years of admiring Lewiston’s camp, Crowley asked the Kootenai Alliance for Children and Families if it could help him launch a similar camp. He’d watched juvenile delinquency in Idaho worsen for years. In 2003, 17,000 juveniles were arrested statewide, he said.

The Alliance included the camp in a grant application to combat drug abuse. The grant enabled the camp to start, but community support was so generous that costs are lower than expected, said Callie Ketner, alliance director.

Brennan will test kids’ attitudes as they enter and leave camp. She’ll ask if they plan to stay in school, attend college or vocational school, how they feel about themselves and if they’re pressured to do drugs. She said she expects answers to change drastically between the start and finish of camp.

“This is a great opportunity to get kids on the verge who could go either way,” she said. “We really want to give Kootenai County kids lessons of hope.”