A Soldier’s Child (ASC) Foundation started in 2009 celebrating the lives of children who had lost a military parent by celebrating the child’s birthday. Since 2010 we started conducting various camps in bringing children together with the like experience of losing a military parent.
ASC has accomplished this by creating a safe place for your kids. Our camps have shown that the ASC recipient children who attend our various camps have built lifelong friendships with other ASC recipient children.
How can ASC Camps benefit your child?
Through our varied and numerous camps and mentorship programs, our goal is for your child to pursue adventure on their terms, build lifelong relationships, find healing, and hope for their hurting hearts.
The camps below are just a snapshot of the types of camps we conduct every year. No matter the type of camp, ASC strives to make every camp “a safe place” for your child. During these camps, your child will realize that they are not alone in their life journey but that there are other kids just like them. Our camps bring joy, laughter, adventure, creativity, a family atmosphere, engagement, leadership, character, integrity, and healing for all attendees.
Our camps help your child nurture social skills, build relationships, manage conflicts, enhance self-confidence, and learn how to work with other kids and adult mentors. Whether your child worked through homesickness or tackled an activity that pushed them outside of their comfort zone, they walk away from camp feeling a stronger sense of personal pride and healthy self-awareness. ASC believes the camp's main purpose is to help your child discover and explore their interest, talents, self-worth, and values.
JOURNEY CAMP
Journey Camp is our week-long flagship camp where your children come to a loving, safe environment where they can be themselves, let down their guard, trust, and receive love, honor, and hope. Journey Camp is a place where they spend a week with other children who are on the same personal journey in pursuit of adventure, building lifelong relationships and seeking hope and healing.
HUNTING & FISHING CAMPS
Our numerous hunting and fishing camps educate our ASC recipient children on the knowledge of gun safety, gun care, enjoying the outdoors, and wildlife. ASC has numerous trained mentors who hunt and fish with our recipient children to ensure the best chance of harvesting a whitetail deer, quail, turkey, or catch that big fish. ASC’s goals are achieved under the supervision of certified professionals and the Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency (TWRA) Officers.
SONGWRITING CAMP
Songwriting Camps are for ASC recipient children interested in taking the journey in healing by working with accomplished Nashville singer/songwriters to tell their own story. Whether they are interested in country, pop, rock, rap, Christian, or folk music, the songwriters always accommodate the kid's desire in the genre. Songwriting Camp is the place for building new friendships with other ASC kids and songwriters they are teamed up with. By telling their stories, our kids better understand where they came from to move forward on their journey of life.
ARTS CAMP
Our arts camp captures the world of culinary arts, cake decorating, pallet art, and photography for our ASC recipient children. Culinary arts class helps fuel a passion for learning the art of cooking and spending time in the kitchen. Cake decorating helps bring out the recipient children’s artistic ideas by designing and decorating their own cake. Pallet art brings out their artistic ideas and how to apply what they imagined on a pallet that they can be proud of. Photography class teaches each recipient child the basics of photography and the basics about the digital cameras they receive.
SPORTS CAMP
ASC provides a sports training experience for our recipient children during our sports camp. Our ASC recipient children receive the training they need to succeed in basketball, soccer, tennis, flag football, bowling, and golf. Campers participated in drills and exercises designed to improve their skills while still having a lot of fun.
HORSE CAMP
Our horsemanship camp is perfect for riders of all skill levels who love horses. Campers experience normal camp activities in addition to dedicated riding and horse-specific activities. Campers enjoy building new friendships, participating in camp-wide games, learning through one-on-one teaching, and just generally being a kid.
CITADEL
ADVENTURE/SPORTS CAMP
Our Citadel Adventure/Military History Camp is perfect for any ASC recipient child. Campers will experience staying on the historical WWII USS Yorktown CV-10 in Charleston. Campers will also be involved in the USS Yorktown’s aviation program. Campers will also spend a day with the Citadel Military College football team and the campers, and their families will be honored during the Citadels military appreciation football game.
ASC'S PS23 PROGRAM
PS23 is our leadership program designed for ASC young adults from 18 years of age and older. Leaders attend conferences, counseling training, outback excursions, and special retreats empathizing in Christian principles and values as it relates to leadership and to our young adults' career paths.
PS23 graduates are trained to help facilitate and serve as peer mentors at Journey Camp and other mini camps throughout the calendar year.
PS23 OFF THE GRID TRIP
Our PS23 Off-The Grid Trip is for our 18-year-old and older mentors that have worked hard as leaders at other ASC camps. It is also for new 18-year-old and older ASC recipient children who are wanting to become a vital part of our PS23 Mentor Program. ASC wants to make sure our PS23 mentors understand how important they are to the ASC PS23 Mentor Program.
Each year ASC will be taking our PS23 mentors on a once in a lifetime “ASC Family” vacation for relationship building, strengthening, and training on how best to mentor the youth of ASC at our yearly camps. It is our intention and vision to see PS23 grow in the future to where we provide life-long touch points for our adult recipients. We expect by 2025 that our young adult programming to be 50 % of everything we do. So, in other words as your kids grow up, we want to grow with them throughout their lives. This is very special and important endeavor for A Soldier’s Child Foundation.