Donate to Camp Echo
Caring ... Honesty ... Respect ... Responsibility
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The Camp Echo Annual Fund
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Many of us recall the thrill of yelling ECHO! at the top of our lungs out over the lake with fellow campers at the closing campfire ... and seeing the burning triangle rise on the far shore.
Whether you've been a youth or Family camper, a counselor or are a parent of a camper, you know the unique way that Camp Echo touches people, helping them grow as individuals and as members of a community.
At camp, kids and families find fun, engaging, safe programs in a natural wonderland and carry a bit of Echo with them when they leave.
Our 2008 Camp Echo Annual Fund goal is $90,000 to support camperships, sustain strong programs, retain a quality staff, and maintain Camp Echo facilities for today and the future.
Last year, 87 youth and 10 families without the means to afford camp were helped by scholarship funds and full camperships.
Your contribution will strengthen camp and ensure that we will continue to nurture campers, foster values, and develop leaders for tomorrow.
Donations to Camp Echo go directly to the Camp Echo operating budget and support Camp Echo.
Your gift to the 2008 Camp Echo Annual Fund and your pledge to support Camp Echo in future years at the same or higher level will ensure our continued success.
A portion of Echo's earned and contributed revenue also helps offset the $1.2 million in membership support, scholarships and program subsidies that the McGaw YMCA provides youth and families in our community.
Today more than ever, kids need help and support to grow into capable, caring adults.
At camp, they experience a sense of wonder and an appreciation of nature while developing core values of honesty, caring, respect and responsibility.
Camp Echo has always been a positive force in people's lives, building self-worth in children and teenagers through a supportive environment that helps them find and believe in their own voices.
Help ensure that more children and families will be able to enjoy the Echo experience and take a piece of the Echo spirit home with them.
Please send your contribution today. Together we'll build strong kids, strong families, strong communities.
Click below to make a contribution to the Camp Echo Annual Fund using PayPal.
If you don't use PayPal, or prefer to donate by check, credit card, or other means, please call Katie Trippi, Camp Echo Development Director, 847-475-7400 x226.
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The Pension Protection Act of 2006
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A provision in the Pension Protection Act of 2006 makes it easier for people age 70-1/2 or older to donate money from their individual retirement accounts to charity.
The provision, recently extended through 2009, allows for tax-free withdrawals from IRAs as long as that money goes directly to charity.
Camp Echo is a qualifying charity.
Consult your tax advisor or legal counsel for advice and information, and to be sure that such a donation is to your advantage;
then, contact Katie Trippi, Camp Echo Development Director, 847-475-7400 x226, to discuss the ways in which your gift can benefit Camp Echo.
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The Camp Echo Maintenance Fund
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Your gift to the Camp Echo Maintenance Fund helps to purchase
hand tools, power tools, roofing material, paint and staining supplies, ladders, fencing, landscaping,
as well as carpentry, plumbing, and electrical materials and the many odds and ends that we use on a daily basis to keep camp looking great.
Click below to make a contribution to the Maintenance Fund using PayPal.
If you don't use PayPal, or prefer to donate by check, credit card, or other means, please call Katie Trippi, Camp Echo Development Director, 847-475-7400 x226.
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The Send a Kid to Camp Fund
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In the fall of 2003 Camp Echo, in collaboration with the Ted Fund of Evanston, established the "Send a Kid to Camp" Fund.
While Evanston children sit side-by-side in classrooms during the school year, they spend their summers in very different worlds.
Children of the economically advantaged are enrolled in swim lessons, sports camps, drama classes, and other special programs.
Their summers are rich with opportunities for fun, self-expression, skill building, and personal development.
In contrast, children of families living below the poverty line are often left behind.
Nearly one out of every three children in Evanston comes from a family that cannot afford such extras as organized summer camp or recreation.
The Ted Fund addresses this glaring need by leveling the playing field.
The Fund enables public school children from families with limited financial resources to take part in quality, fee-based summer programs that other Evanston children take for granted.
The Ted Fund was established in 1996 in memory of Ted Muller, who had spent many years as a camp counselor and a District 65 teacher.
The Ted Fund identifies a dozen eligible third-grade students in District 65 schools, and provides them with a day camp experience for three consecutive summers.
Participating day camps include Olympian Sports Camp; the City of Evanstonıs Arts Camp, Ecology Camp, and Robert Crown Summer Camp; and the McGaw YMCAıs Camp WaNaGo.
Camp Echo's "Send a Kid to Camp" Fund picks up where the Ted Fund leaves off.
In collaboration with the Ted Fund, four eligible sixth-grade "graduates" of their day camp experience are identified each year, and provided with a two-week Camp Echo experience for three summers.
Members of the Camp Echo Committee help to ease the transition from day camp to overnight camp by assisting with the paperwork required for camp and by helping each family to identify and obtain appropriate camping gear.
In 2006 we reached our goal of providing twelve full camperships every year. Donations to Camp Echo's "Send a Kid to Camp" Fund are welcome at any time.
Click below to make a contribution to the Send a Kid to Camp Fund using PayPal.
If you don't use PayPal, or prefer to donate by check, credit card, or other means, please call Katie Trippi, Camp Echo Development Director, 847-475-7400 x226.
While "Send a Kid to Camp" Fund donations have come from a variety of sources, a fun way to donate is through the purchase of an "Echo in the Round" CD for $25 + $2.50 s/h.
The recording and editing sessions were underwritten by designated donations from friends of Camp Echo, ensuring that most of the purchase price will help bring kids to camp.
Click below to purchase the Echo in the Round Double CD Set using PayPal.
Echo in the Round contains bits of adult humor
Parental guidance is suggested
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The Send a Teen to Camp Fund
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After attending camp for three summers, our "Send a Kid" campers have the opportunity to choose from a variety of teen programs at Camp Echo.
We ask these high school students to pay a small portion of their camp fee, but we still need donations to support this worthy program.
Teens who participate in teen programs at Camp Echo are well-prepared to take on leadership positions in their school or community, and eligible to apply for staff positions.
Click below to make a contribution to the Send a Teen to Camp Fund using PayPal.
If you don't use PayPal, or prefer to donate by check, credit card, or other means, please call Katie Trippi, Camp Echo Development Director, 847-475-7400 x226.
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The Send a Family to Camp Fund
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Started in 2004 by Rhonda Goldstein, a first-time family camper, the "Send a Family to Camp" Fund brings economically disadvantaged families who might not otherwise be able to attend, to Family Camp.
Each year, donations to the "Send a Family to Camp" Fund allow us to award up to twelve Family-to-Family Camperships.
These are full fee awards for a Camp Echo Family Camp (Week or Weekend), that include a Trading Post account of $25/person covering horseback rides, T-shirts, snacks, and arts & crafts projects for family members.
The intent of the Family to Family Campership is to help bring diversity to Camp Echo Family Camp as well as opening the Family Camp experience to families who otherwise could not afford it.
Families who participate in the McGaw YMCA's "Membership for All" program and who demonstrate involvement in or commitment to other McGaw YMCA programs are invitied to apply.
Click below to make a contribution to the Send a Family to Camp Fund using PayPal.
If you don't use PayPal, or prefer to donate by check, credit card, or other means, please call Katie Trippi, Camp Echo Development Director, 847-475-7400 x226.
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Camp staff and volunteers, working with the firms of OCBA and Slocum Associates, held an architectural design charrette in May of 2007 at Camp Echo.
The work product of that event is a Master Plan -- a sort of "blueprint" for upgrades and additions to the Camp Echo facility that we hope to bring to fruition over the next five or ten years.
Click here to view the Echo Master Plan as a PDF.
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We are moving ahead with the projects in the Master Plan as funding becomes available.
Click here to learn more about projects at Camp Echo made possible by our many wonderful donors.
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Camp Echo's Capital Building Fund
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The Camp Echo Capital Building Fund has been created to accept donations towards capital improvements at Echo that have been identified as a priority in the Master Plan.
Each of our 18 camper cabins at camp was built and named with generous donations from service clubs or friends of Camp Echo, often to honor or memorialize family members.
Examples include Wally Ford Lodge, Ben Snyder Lodge, Optimist Lodge, Lions Lodge, and Kiwanis Lodge.
Most recently, in the Spring of 2009, the addition of Steffek Lodge and Codor Lodge enabled us to reduce average cabin size to 10-11 campers, down from 11-12, thus improving the overall quality of the Camp Echo experience.
From 1999 to 2007 we built a number of smaller cabins, which we call Peaks, that are used to house central program staff during the summer and families of size four or less at Family Camp.
We are currently seeking donations of $20,000 or more -- an investment in Camp Echo's future -- as naming rights for each Peak cabin.
As of December 2009, seven Peak cabins have been named or spoken for; three are still available.
Thanks to the generosity of these donors, we are able to fund capital projects that improve the Camp Echo experience for over 1,000 campers every summer.
Click here to see pictures of recently named buildings at Camp Echo.
Camp Echo's Master Plan calls for additional buildings and program areas for which there are naming rights available.
If you or your family are interested in a naming opportunity, or in making a contribution to the Camp Echo Capital Building Fund, contact the Camp Echo Development Director.
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Camp Echo's Endowment Funds
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One way to help ensure that Camp Echo will be able to provide scholarships and quality programs going forward is to contribute to an existing endowment fund, or a fund functioning as an endowment.
With an endowment, the principal has been permanently restricted by the original donor(s), and only the earnings are expended annually.
With a fund functioning as an endowment, the principal has been protected by Board action, but is not permanently restricted;
under normal circumstances, only the earnings are expended annually -- but the Board reserves the right to expend the principal under extraordinary circumstances.
Online contributions to endowments and funds functioning as endowments are accepted through PayPal.
If you don't use PayPal, or prefer to donate by check, credit card, or other means,
please call Katie Trippi, Camp Echo Development Director, 847-475-7400 x226.
To Support Scholarships at Camp Echo
- The Jerry Chiss Memorial Endowment for Camp Echo Scholarships
- The Kenneth Eckholt Memorial Fund for Camp Echo Scholarships
- The A Brenner Runs Through It Endowment for Camp Echo Adventure Trip Scholarships
Donors to the "A Brenner Runs Through It" endowment must also click here to download a gift agreement,
to ensure that their donation will be counted towards the initial goal of $50,000,
and to ensure that they will be recognized as a charter donor to this endowment.
In addition, all donations going forward from February 11, 2010 will be matched,
dollar for dollar, by a challenge match from an anonymous donor,
up to a total of $10,000 -- and $10,000 in donations will become $20,000.
To Support Camp Echo's Greatest Needs
- The Burning Triangle Fund for General Camp Echo Support
- A permanent Endowment for General Camp Echo Support is in progress
To Support Specific Programs at Camp Echo
- The Kristin Kent Memorial Endowment for support of the Camp Echo Nature Trail
- Permanent Endowments for Sailing, Skiing, and Archery are in progress
If you or your family are interested in contributing to an existing endowment, or creating a new endowment, contact the Camp Echo Development Director.
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Planned Giving: The Aiken-Talley Society
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The Aiken-Talley Society was created in 2006 by the McGaw YMCA Board of Directors
to recognize growing number of visionary benefactors who have generously contributed to the long-term health of the McGaw YMCA
by including the Association in their estate plans.
The Society is named for Mayhew P. Aiken, the first president of the Evanston YMCA established in 1885,
and the Rev. James Talley, the first Executive Secretary of the Emerson Street YMCA established in 1914
for the African American community in Evanston.
The two YMCA's were merged in the 1960s at our present location.
Through the generosity of our past and current donors the endowment fund has over four million dollars.
Our goal is to build the endowment fund to ten million dollars to ensure that the McGaw YMCA will continue to change lives and positively impact our community for years to come.
Specific opportunities to designate endowment gifts for Camp Echo are being planned and will be announced in the coming year.
Members of the Aiken-Talley Society who have already designated Camp Echo for all, or a portion of, their planned gift include:
- Brian Becharas
- Barbara Eckholt
- Bill & Beth Geiger
- Rob & Linda Grierson
- Charles & Susan McKibbin
- George Mestjian
- John W. Mosser
- Bill & Judy Tramel
- Katie Tucker Trippi
- Jim Westfall
If you have already named Camp Echo or the McGaw YMCA in your estate plan, or if you are considering doing so,
please contact the Camp Echo Development Director.
We want to be sure that we honor you as a member of the Aiken-Talley Society.
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Camp Echo welcomes donations of the following items:
- Macintosh computers (G4/750 or better)
- Digital video camera (relatively new)
- Guitar
- Child restaint "booster seat" for a 7-year-old
- Power tools
- Decks of cards (complete)
- DVD movies (G or PG)
- Board games (complete)
- Jigsaw puzzles (complete)
- Arts & Crafts supplies
- Sailboats (Sunfish, or Barnett 1400)
- Vehicles (roadworthy, air bags, ABS, under 100,000 miles)
- Water skis or Wakeboards (in excellent shape)
- Ice making machine for the Klein Clinic
- First Aid supplies (gauze, band-aids, ACE wraps, ice packs) (new)
If you have any of the above contact the Camp Director.
Thanks to Charlie & Kent at the Auto Doctor for checking out our donated vehicles!
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Donate Your Time to Camp Echo
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Volunteers give about 3,500 hours of time to Camp Echo each year -- a total of 26,258 hours since we began officially tracking hours on July 1, 2001.
There are opportunites to serve as policy volunteers (committee members), work weekends (fall and spring), and summer jobs.
Click here to learn more about volunteer opportunities at Camp Echo.
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