Better late than never… We are finally coming down from the high of Camp Swift and wanted to share all the fun and life-long memories we made on our last few days at Camp Swift. Thankfully day 4 had less rain than the rest of our time up north which allowed for so much fun at the ropes course, canoeing, swimming, horseback riding, and so much more! We had the pleasure of having some special guests join us for our annual Visitor’s Day which included community partners, donors, and board members. They toured Camp Swift and shared a yummy lunch with us. Our afternoon was full of even more fun and games, wrapping up the last few activities of the session. For dinner, as always on the last night, we put on Cafe Swift for our campers. It was a special evening where support staff got to serve campers and counselors a fancy meal! Then in Olympic fashion, we moved into our Closing Ceremonies, where each cabin got to showcase themselves one last time. We ended our evening with a very special slideshow of all the memories we had made at Camp Swift! The next morning we woke up early for an early breakfast so we could finish packing before heading home. Our final goodbyes were very emotional as everyone said goodbye to their mentors and friends. By 3pm everyone was back in Phoenix. We are incredibly thankful to have concluded another successful session of Camp Swift! We could not have done it without our incredible Support Staff and counselors! Thank you all, our campers looked up to you so much! Until next year…  We have successfully concluded day 3 of Camp Swift and what a fantastic day we had! Today was our famous Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup day and the kids and counselors had a blast dressing up and painting their bodies.  The rain did not stop us and we improvised using a tarp to protect us from the rain moving from the barn to the lodge.  We also did silly Olympics which was so FUN. Other activities included a great hike where the campers learned about biomes, more horse riding, sports and much more. 
We have successfully concluded day 2 of Camp Swift and boy does it feel good to be back! This morning we hit the ground running with our first Golden Broom of the session, followed by canoeing, horseback riding, swimming and more! The rain moved us inside in the afternoon but thanks to the quick thinking of our incredible staff we moved to the Barn for a full camp game of capture the flag. By dinner time the rain had subsided, allowing us to have a campfire and evening programs (Olympic themed of course).
We are so proud of the amazing job the counselors and support staff are doing! Unit heads, Carter Warner, Abby Adelman, and Jose Alvarado have been great leaders to our counselors and the counselors have blown us away with their amazing mentorship skills.  We can’t wait to see all the fun day 3 has in store for us!
Camp Swift is officially back in action! The rain couldn’t stop us from having a very successful day 1 filled with lots of fun and laughter! Today would not have been possible without our incredible counselors, who have already proved themselves as great role models and our dedicated support staff!  Campers arrived this morning at 11 o’clock and were greeted by Director of Fun, Zach Schawelson and Director of Special Programs, Kara Sherman, who provided a cheerful, fun introduction to Camp Swift. We then had a yummy pasta lunch, followed by everyone taking a trip to the Krazy Keppies store and loading up. After that, we went into different programs all afternoon, had a yummy dinner, then wound down the day with a fun evening programs for each unit. Staff Director, Matt Wall made sure that everything ran smoothly and made us even more excited for Camp Swift Day 2.
This year’s theme for Camp Swift is the Olympics, of course! All our programming and decorations are Olympic themed and we have assigned each cabin a country to represent this week. This has included learning about Olympic sports, playing them, and practicing the values that Olympians live their life by. We might even have a future Olympian among us!
Swift Youth Foundation stands in solidarity with all those who are fighting for a better and more just world. In our 40 years of existence, we have never stopped doing the work to provide year-round resources and programming for communities that may not otherwise have them and to offer nothing but love, respect, and dignity to every single person that touches our organization.
At Swift, we envision a future of youth and teens who are equipped with the leadership skills to reach their full potential and are inspired to carry out a lifelong commitment to their communities. We know that this vision cannot be fully realized for our community until systemic injustice and racism are eliminated from our society and we believe unequivocally that black lives matter. Among our core values is a belief that youth, teens and young adults with a commitment to social action are critical in building a better world. That’s why we are proud to be an organization that empowers the voices of people of color and support them when they use their voice to make a difference. We also want our volunteers, donors and providers to be proud of their involvement in our organization every step of the way. We will continue to listen to their voices so that we can be better serve our community. |
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January 2023
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