Clicks for Camp: Servants Heart in Action
Chances are, if you’re reading this daily blog, you believe in the lasting positive impact of camp. You may even be an alumnus yourself, who has benefited from the camp experience first-hand.
We know we’re not alone in believing that every boy deserves camp. Every boy deserves a summer built for boyhood, where they find friends for life, a love of adventure, and the experience to become their best self. Unfortunately, the problem is that not every boy can afford to go to camp.
This is something that weighed heavily on 17-year-old camper Grant Loeffler, from Charlotte, NC.
I’ve always loved camp. It’s given me a lot of opportunities, and it’s shaped me to be the person I am today. I wanted to give back in some way.
Grant Loeffler (camper ’17-’26)
Grant is at Falling Creek for his 10th consecutive summer this year (12th, including the Father/Son Weekends he did as a young boy). He’s a Man of STEEL this year, (Summer Training Encouraging Emerging Leaders), which is the leadership program for young men who have completed 11th grade.
Each summer the guys in the STEEL program learn what it takes to be a counselor, and act as role models for the younger campers. Though everyone in the camp community is expected to live by the FCC Code, Grant took it to the next level by modeling his Servant’s Heart with a personal fundraising effort. Through his sports photography during the school year, Grant raised enough money to cover the cost of a Junior Camp session for another boy.
He called his fundraising efforts, “Clicks for Camp,” and took portraits and sports photos in exchange for donations to Falling Creek’s Campership Fund. “I put a link on my Instagram page,” said Grant. “When people would reach out about booking a photo session and ask for the cost, I would say that I didn’t charge anything but encouraged them to donate to Falling Creek’s Campership Fund.”
The four photos below are examples of Grant’s great photography work:
The Campership Fund is a camper scholarship, separate from the camp business, which aims to make the Falling Creek Camp experience accessible to boys in Grade 1-11 who would otherwise be unable to afford it. Donors are able to make a tax deductible donation through the Community Foundation of Western North Carolina.
The fund is managed by the Falling Creek Campership Committee, a committee of alumni and parents who are passionate about helping more boys experience camp, and who select the scholarship recipients based on an application process.
In order to raise $2,250 for Junior Camp tuition, Grant had to shoot dozens of photo sessions, all while juggling the demands of high school classes. Grant said that he was motivated to donate such great amounts of his time and talent because camp has meant so much to him.
“Camp is special because it’s such a different place than home. At camp you create such a brotherhood. It genuinely feels like a family.” Grant wanted to help share this feeling with others. “I also enjoy mentoring the younger campers because that’s what the older kids did for me.”
Many of us have fond memories and positive impacts from our camp experience, but very few people take the initiative to pay it forward the way Grant has. Because of him, another boy will get to go to camp.
That’s the definition of Servant’s Heart. Grant’s selflessness is what we hope all Falling Creek gentlemen model. Not just as boys, but in their careers and communities and lives as they grow into men.
Camp Director, Yates Pharr
Grant says that a summer at camp positively impacts the rest of his year.
Camp has made me a better person. My mom says when I get back home she can tell the difference. She says I’m in a better mood, more energetic, more in shape, more engaged. I think camp is important for everyone’s developmental growth. Camp gets you out of your shell.
Grant Loeffler (camper ’17-’26)
Why does he think people should consider a donation to the Campership Fund?
“For alumni, think of the impact that camp had on you. You can give that same experience to another kid. Even if you aren’t alumni, giving this experience to kids is incredible. The gift of camp impacts kids’ growth”
It has been said that the Spirit of Falling Creek is rooted in Unselfishness. Grant shared that camp feels special to him because of the brotherhood. What he may not realize is that the reason that “brotherhood” exists at camp is precisely because of young men like him.