Camp Corral

A few years ago, Golden Corral founder James Maynard began working with his team to explore ways that they could “serve those who have served us” and provide something meaningful to give back to military families.  Golden Corral has a long history of honoring the military and veterans organizations, so supporting the children of military service members was a natural extension of what they were already doing.  The idea of sending these children to camp as a way to thank their families and offer their kids a life-changing week away from home became a reality in 2011 when Camp Corral opened as a pilot, one-camp program.

Camp Corral, headquartered in Raleigh, is a free, one-of-a-kind summer camp for children of wounded, disabled or fallen military service members.  Since its founding, Camp Corral has grown to 20 camps in 16 states, and served over 4,000 children. The vision behind Camp Corral is one where kids, ages 8 to 15, are free to be kids, far away from the day-to-day challenges they face as children of military service members.

The Raleigh chapter of Project Linus provided blankets for the campers at the recent opening of camp.  Dolly Mercer, Consumer Promotions & National Events Manager with Golden Corral, sent this note:

I was at the Camp Corral opening Sunday at the Eastern NC 4-H Center in Columbia, North Carolina – we had about 125 campers,  with some little siblings that wanted a blanket too – we couldn’t resist this toddler who just had to have this blue and white blanket.  The girls and boys were all very thoughtful in choosing a blanket and then smiles for everyone.  It was such a rewarding day.

Thank you and your chapter members for making such an impact on our Camp Corral children.  Thanks to you, we had lots of blankets and the display was great (see photos). 

We hope next year that some of the chapter members will want to actually be at a Sunday afternoon opening and help to distribute the blankets to the children.  We would love to have you join us.

Best regards and thanks again,
Dolly

Two additional camps will be held in North Carolina this summer, with the next one beginning August 10 at a YMCA camp near Greensboro.  Project Linus volunteers are welcome to come for the opening day and help distribute blankets and join in the fun.  To volunteer, call Dolly at 919 781-9310 or email dmercer@goldencorral.net.  More information about the camps can be found at www.campcorral.org