Summer camps are usually a great way for kids to meet peers their age, socialize, have fun, and simply spend precious summer time. That's why many kids are eager to go to them, and parents, if they can afford it, are generally on board with this idea.
Like in today's story, where a girl wanted to go to a church camp so badly, she was willing to pay for it with her savings. But then she came back borderline traumatized, as the camp wasn't anything like the church promised it would be.
More info: Reddit
Typically, a summer camp is a great place for a kid to spend their summer and have a lot of fun with their peers
Image credits: freepik / Freepik (not the actual photo)
So, when the author's daughter expressed a desire to go to church camp and to pay for it with her savings, the woman let her
Image credits: Milan Cobanov / Pexels (not the actual photo)
After all, in the ad, it was promised that this camp would be fun and fulfilling for kids
Image credits: freepik / Freepik (not the actual photo)
Yet, the reality was far from it -- instead of promised activities, the kids were sent to tent city to spread the word of God
Image credits: Momof4-1991
The woman thought it was very irresponsible of a church to send kids to a place like that without parents' consent, so she decided to cause waves online
The OP’s 12-year-old daughter wanted to attend a church youth camp. It was promised to be a “spiritually focused week with a beach day, games, fellowship, and light community service at a local food bank.” The girl spent her saved money to attend this camp, which shows how much she wanted to go.
Technically, a typical church camp isn’t that much different from a simple camp. It only has one major difference—an emphasis on religion. For instance, kids there have to pray at certain times of the day, spend some time studying the Bible, and do other things like that.
Unfortunately, the exact camp the original poster’s daughter chose wasn’t anything like that. Yes, it was advertised in this way, but when the kids arrived, things changed. Instead of promised activities, the children were sent to a tent city in Houston, Texas, for three days in a row.
For those of you who don’t know what exactly a tent city is, it’s a temporary housing facility made of tents or other temporary structures. Typically, people like house evacuees, refugees, soldiers, or homeless people live there.
And so, the mom of the 12-year-old wasn’t happy her daughter was thrown into a place like this to spread the word of God; it wasn’t what was promised. The woman worried for her kid’s safety – she was thrown into a place full of strangers with unknown means.
The kids were split into groups of 3-4 and scattered throughout the tent city, with only 3 adults accompanying the whole party. Throughout this “journey,” the kids were scared and uncomfortable and didn’t want to return after the first day, but guilt tripped them into doing so.
What makes matters worse is the fact that before the kids left, the OP specifically asked the youth pastor if they wouldn't be doing anything like that, and was reassured that they wouldn't. Turns out, she was lied to.
Bored Panda interviewed a teacher, Loreta Bulotienė, with whom we talked about institutions' responsibility for children.
She said that letting children do something that wasn't outlined to their parents beforehand, especially something as grand and possibly dangerous as visiting a tent city, is a big no for her. In her eyes, the actions of the church camp in this story are indefensible – they straight up put the kids in danger without their parents' consent.
Image credits: artfolio / Freepik (not the actual photo)
She explained the way she views teachers' responsibility from her experience: "Parents trust me with their kids, with someone they love very dearly. So, anytime I bring them somewhere other than school, I prefer to have the as-detailed-as-possible itinerary, so they can know where the kids will be and what they will be doing at exact times."
Granted, she let it be known that she doesn't teach at a religious school, so theoretically, you could draw some differences between her experiences and what it's like to be a church camp head. At the same time, she noted that responsibility for kids is still responsibility for kids, no matter your title.
Later, the youth pastor in his sermon (a religious speech, delivered by a religious leader) admitted that the camp had nothing prepared, and that’s why they sent kids to the tent city. When asked to explain himself, the pastor let the woman know that this action was justified by the fact that “God let him.”
In fact, it took the OP quite a lot of effort to get her money back. Even after that, she wasn’t planning to back down—she wanted to hold them accountable.
She contacted a local reporter, who agreed to cover the story. A day after this agreement, a different local newspaper ran a fluff piece praising the trip, while the reporter the original author was speaking to strangely went silent (later the story was published.) Since then, the church deleted the youth pastor's sermon on Facebook, and the pastor is already planning another trip.
Plus, he is more than a pastor in the community – he’s also the president of the county school board, a former police officer, and a coach for softball, volleyball, and cheer. If that wasn’t enough, his wife, who’s also involved with these trips, is a principal of a public school.
So, these people are so involved with the kids of the community and still are willing to put them at risk by bringing them into tent cities without parents’ consent and leaving them barely supervised.
In the Reddit post, the OP didn’t mention any names, as she said she didn’t want to stir up the drama. Yet, the comments under it said that she should – if these people are so reckless with kids that are being left in their care, they have to be put on blast.
So, she posted the article that the reporter she talked to published, where all the names were made known. And now, they have to hope that the negative publicity will make the church rethink its actions.
Watch the discussed sermon here
Soon, netizens were enraged by this; camp, their names were published, but still, it turns out that the church is already planning another trip, so it's unclear how effective the publicity was
