Author: alk2018

Please welcome our new MSW intern from VCU School of Social Work, Erin Trimmer! Erin will be with us for the '23-'24 school year leading our Alkulana RVA school-year program and jumping in where ever else she's needed. Here's a little bit about Erin: Erin has lived in the Richmond area since 1999. She was a counselor at Camp Alkulana the summer after she graduated high school and is thrilled to be back in this new role. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Interdisciplinary Studies from Virginia Commonwealth University and is pursuing a Master’s in Social Work. Erin lives in Midlothian with her husband, son, and three dogs. She loves getting outside and riding her bike when she's not working and is forever trying to perfect her chocolate chip cookie…

For more information about the Westhampton Scholarship, visit this page.

RCFN Week of Prayer This year’s theme for the River City Faith Network’s Week of Prayer is Into the Neighborhood. The first Camp Alkulana neighborhood was the Church Hill neighborhood of Richmond, where we recruited campers from our House of Happiness Goodwill Center. In the 108 year history of camp, our “neighborhood” has grown to include all of the city of Richmond, Henrico County, Chesterfield County, Hanover County, and if you include our alumni and their families, all of Virginia and all over the United States. This year we are working to broaden our reach into our neighborhood, and perhaps your neighborhood, by finding new partners and strengthening relationships with old ones. This spring, our intern Eric Paz worked with Wesley Garrett to take information about Camp Alkulana to many…

Upcoming Events We've got a lot of activity happening all year long now, so we've added an "Upcoming Events" tab on our homepage. Here are a couple of things that are coming up that we're really excited about: See this page for more information about Spring into Camp Cookout. See this page for more information about Family Camp Weekend.

In 2015, Camp Alkulana was added to the National Register of Historic Places. This listing recognizes the camp’s historic national significance in connection with the American camping movement, the settlement house movement, and the leadership of women in promoting social change in urban America. In January, we finally received our sign to mark the achievement! You will see it posted at the beginning of our camp driveway. The sign says: Camp Alkulana, one of Virginia’s oldest residential summer camps, was established in 1925 and moved here in 1917. Nannie Crump West, a social reformer who directed a settlement house in Richmond under the auspices of that city’s Baptist Woman’s Missionary Circle founded the camp to provide the benefits of outdoor recreation to girls from urban, working-class families. Swimming, hiking, cave…

In the summer camp world, January begins the process of hurdling us back toward summer! Even as we experience cold, dreary weather, all of our preparation picks up pace and we are excitedly planning for and dreaming about our cabins being full of campers again. Here are a few ways you can engage now to make summer 2023 magical for our campers: Join us as a summer staff member or a volunteer in the kitchen, craft shack, or infirmary. Or if you’re unable to, pass the word along to someone else who can! Connect us with potential campers! Who do you know that should have an Alkulana experience? Sign up to join us at one of our May volunteer work days to get our camp ground ready. We look forward…

We have a saying at Camp Alkulana: From the first time you come up our driveway, you are family. That family includes our campers, staff members, volunteers, and more. Those who support Camp Alkulana from afar are also part of this Alkulana Family. Camp is not just a place. In the past two years we have held several events in Richmond so they can see their Camp friends and counselors. The spirit of our space in Millboro comes alive in new spaces through Alkulana RVA and APP. Camp is not just something that you do. It is something that connects all of us. In this holiday season, we have partnered with the Oregon Hill Baptist Center and several churches in the RCFN to provide Thanksgiving meals, Christmas Store gifts, and…

God of Creation, you have blessed us with the changing of the seasons. As we embrace these autumn months, May the earlier setting of the sun Remind us to take time to rest. May the crunch of the leaves beneath our feet Remind us of the brevity of this earthly life. May the steam of our breath in the cool air Remind us that it is you who give us your breath of life. May the scurrying of the squirrels and the migration of the birds Remind us that you call us to follow you. (prayer entitled, Autumn Prayer) In early November thirty members of our summer staff met up at Camp Alkulana for a weekend and enjoyed a slow-paced retreat together. It was a rainy weekend that brought us…

This summer I spent time in a few sacred places. I was blessed to be able to spend part of three sessions at Camp Alkulana. I was there with some of the best people. Counselors, nurses, crafters, cooks, gardeners, and campers. I got to experience some sacred times in some sacred spaces. From morning until evening, there is someone in the kitchen below the dining hall at Camp Alkulana, fixing breakfast, lunch, and dinner. In that kitchen there is a table. Vegetables are chopped, ingredients are mixed, food is prepared at this table. Also at this table, staff sits and talks, and shares a meal. In a corner of the kitchen there is a sink. I got to spend some time there washing dishes. Meals come together, dishes are dirtied,…