2018 End of Year Fundraiser!

Support SJC by making a donation that will help compensate our valuable counselors and CITs!

Your donation will boost stipends for our staff members and count towards additional camperships for campers who may not otherwise be able to afford attending SJC in 2019.

[su_button url=”https://chuffed.org/project/sjc-loves-counselors-and-campers” target=”blank” style=”flat” background=”#EB1F66″ size=”8″ radius=”5″]Please donate to SJC by December 31, 2018![/su_button]

A little bit of context

For more than 40 years, Sae Jong Camp – one of the nation’s oldest Korean American cultural camps – has enriched and changed the lives of thousands of campers, many of whom have become friends for life and have returned as counselors-in-training (CITs), counselors, and even program directors. These staff members spend months preparing before camp and are on duty 24/7 during the week SJC is in operation. While this work is largely a labor of love, SJC provides a modest stipend to staff members in recognition of their hard work and commitment – however, the stipend is not a substitute for what our staff members could potentially earn working other non-volunteer jobs.

But there’s a problem

SJC has historically served a majority of campers from Michigan. Over the years, many SJC alumni have relocated to distant places… New Jersey, North Carolina, New York, California, Utah, Denver, and even South Korea. An increasing number of our staff travel from locations outside Michigan and are in need of travel assistance to work at SJC. Rising travel costs, and the need for compensation to be marginally competitive with what our staff members forego to volunteer at SJC, are placing increasing pressure on our budget.

At the same time SJC is committed to promoting our program for Korean American youth both in and outside Michigan, and to providing financial aid to campers who would otherwise be unable to attend camp.

As always SJC is doing what it can to maintain healthy camp attendance, the quality of our program, and recruitment of the most qualified staff.

Here’s what we’re doing about it

To help offset financial hardship for future CITs and counselors, we would like to provide a small boost to our staff stipends, especially to those who have to travel from outside Michigan.

Additionally, we would like to provide an additional 5 “camperships” (scholarships for campers) who may not otherwise be able to afford attending SJC.

You can join us

In honor of our camp director, Doug Kim, who will be 62 years young in November, we hope you will donate $62 to our campaign (one dollar for every year of his blessed life!). In addition to this amount (celebrating Doug’s dotage) there are a number of other levels (starting at $50 targeted for specific needs).

Our campaign goal is $6200. Please think about how much camp has impacted your life and the lives of your children, and while it’s impossible to place a value on that impact, we hope you will contribute what you can. All donations are tax-deductible.