About us
Camp For All transforms the world for children and adults with challenging illnesses or special needs. Camp For All intentionally delivers unique, truly barrier-free experiences throughout the year by collaborating with multiple not-for-profit organizations to enable thousands of campers and their families to discover life. Camp For All was proud to earn the Eleanor P. Eells Award in 2017 for program excellence as well as excellence in research in practice at camps. The national award, presented by the American Camp Association, recognized Camp For All 2U, the outreach program where we take Camp activities into hospitals.
Camp for All
Camp For All 2U
Our Team
Financials
History
In 1993, Paul Gerson, Robert Zeller and Larry Neuhaus, two Houston physicians who care for children with special needs and a parent who lost a child to cancer, teamed up with a dream to build a place where people with challenging illnesses or special needs could go to get away, have fun and find joy. Their mission was to create a unique place that would embrace those who because of an illness or challenge had limited opportunities to experience the joy of camp. What made this dream unique compared to other special needs camps on the country is that before a single building was designed, the founders brought together an architect and different organizations that served special needs populations to discover what the camp would look like, what it would need and how every aspect should be designed to provide this freeing experience.
The result is Camp For All, which opened in 1998 on 206 acres in Washington County, a nationally recognized, truly barrier-free facility with cutting edge programming that adapts universally to the needs of each group that attends with the oversight of special needs camping professionals. Each building was designed for ease of use by all, longevity, low maintenance and flexibility. With a pro-active maintenance plan and a dedicated staff, the camp looks even more beautiful than the day it first opened; and more importantly, since that time, more than 180,000 campers have discovered life anew.
Values
Camp For All is the national leader in creating and providing proven life-changing experiences through passionate and professional staff, cutting edge facilities and innovative programming.
We believe the Camp For All experience is essential because it provides joyful and life changing opportunities for all.
We are Barrier-Free to ensure that the Camp For All experience is accessible to All and to keep campers physically and emotionally safe.
We respect and celebrate the uniqueness of every camp and camper by demonstrating and cultivating compassion, empathy and inclusiveness.
We transform “can’t do” into “can do” by fostering each camper’s independence, building their confidence through encouragement and support and helping them discover their fullest potential.
We exceed expectations by providing excellent staff, programming, and facilities and are committed to innovation.
WHY CAMP FOR ALL?
Serving approximately 10,000 children and adults throughout the year, Camp For All provides opportunities for campers to find hope, grow in self confidence and realize they are not alone. Discovering they are not defined by their challenge, they focus on what they “can” do.
COLLABORATIVE BUSINESS MODEL
Camp For All works in collaboration with more than 65 different nonprofit organizations. Camp For All provides the barrier-free camp, professional staff, universal programming, and appropriate foods. As part of our mission, we raise more than $2.5 million annually to provide half of the cost for each camper to enable campers to come to Camp For All. The 65+ notprofit Partners bring the campers, the medical staff, and the “in cabin” counselors. Also, they provide the other half of the cost.