This is the story about the girl who was the first recipient of a Grant W. Koch Scholarship. We hope this story will inspire you to make a generous donation because there are a lot more children like this remarkable girl who would benefit from going to camp.
This is the story about the girl who was the first recipient of a Grant W. Koch Scholarship. We hope this story will inspire you to make a generous donation because there are a lot more children like this remarkable girl who would benefit from going to camp.
We found out about “Alice” from her grammar school guidance counselor, after we sent a letter requesting nominations for the GWK Scholarship. Alice’s mother, a drug addict, had abandoned her before she was two and had kept in touch only sporadically. her father, constantly in and out of jail, had seen her only once.
It was up to her grandmother to take Alice in, an act of generosity all the more remarkable because she had her own problems. Seriously ill, she got little help from Alice’s grandfather, who was an alcoholic.
Alice essentially raised herself. She learned to cook and made the family dinner. Although she took care of her grandparents, she also excelled at school and, when possible, participated in after-school activities.
When her guidance counselor received the Grant W, Koch Scholarship Fund request for a recommendation, she eagerly forwarded the name of this remarkable girl, explaining that she had rarely met any child so deserving of a break. We enthusiastically awarded the scholarship to her.
In the first summer spent one week at camp. Both counselors and fellow campers fell in love with her. The director of the camp recommended that we offer her another scholarship for the summer of 2002.
Last spring, the GWK Scholarship committee tried to call her, only to be told that Alice had been removed from the home. We learned that her grandmother had died, and Alice was adopted by her aunt and living off Cape. When we finally located the aunt and asked if she would grant permission for Alice to return to camp for two weeks, she eagerly complied and told us, “She talks about camp all the time. She’d give anything to go again.”
At camp she excelled once again. One of her counselors said: “She managed to pack a huge variety of activities in her short time here. She excelled in tennis, where she passed her Level 2 in the first few days. In our unit swim races, she came in first place in two events. Though her time here was short, her list of accomplishments is long and very impressive.”
Camp gives Alice a community. In turn, Alice teaches her fellow campers the importance of character, generosity and initiative and that one’s circumstances don’t have to dictate the course of her life.
We know what camp can do to transform children’s lives. We started the GWK Fund because an experience like a summer at Cape Cod Sea Camps should not be restricted to the relative few who can afford it.
There are many children out there who will thrive, as Alice has, in a camp situation. Our aim is to continue sending Alice to camp and to expand the number of scholarships to other children who have come to our attention. We seek to raise a million dollars for the fund, and use the interest to send children to camp.
Please consider a gift to the Grant W. Koch Scholarship Fund.
← Return