Giving My Time to Camp

“North Star Reach tugs on my heart strings,” shares Christeen Colter, one of our long-time volunteers. Today we share with you Christeen’s story and why she has chosen to give her time to North Star Reach for the past four years.

How did you become involved in North Star Reach?

A dear friend of mine, Jessica Doletzky, has been working with SeriousFun Camps for several years.  She and I were chatting one afternoon about her experiences with all the amazing kids at camp, and I completely fell in love with North Star Reach’s mission and vision.

There are a lot of nonprofits out there, why do you continue to support camp?

I do a lot of work with other nonprofits at my job, but North Star Reach is the only one I currently donate my personal time to. North Star Reach tugs on my heart strings.

What kinds of projects and events do you volunteer for?

I am on the call list to do whatever, whenever! Thus far, I primarily help out at fundraising events like golf outings. It is my personal mission to continue to expand my work with North Star Reach and hopefully volunteer at camp one day to see the dream of this amazing camp a reality!

What has been the best part of volunteering?

The best part is meeting the campers and their families.  Each camper that I have had the blessing to meet has been amazing. They face challenges no child should ever have to, yet still have such great spirits, are quick witted and have fun personalities.  When commenting on their charismatic personalities, their parents often indicate that it was their child’s experience at camp that brought it out in them! Hearing this made my heart swell, and I had to fight back the tears! It’s such an amazing transformation to see first-hand.

What advice or encouragement do you have for people considering volunteering?

The experiences are truly priceless and each time I get to work with North Star Reach, I leave feeling energized and blessed to be a part of such an amazing group of people. It’s an indescribable feeling being able to work together to give children with serious health challenges an opportunity to be kids and forget about all the troubles of their sicknesses.

What do you love most about North Star Reach and its mission?

What’s not to love about the simplicity of it all? The mission is made up of eight basic values that uphold the guidelines for an inspiring and enjoyable camp experience. If we all practiced the simple ideas of North Star Reach’s values in our day to day life, just think of what a pleasant place the world would be! I love the objective “gratitude is the best attitude.” It is said that “gratitude is the healthiest of all human emotions. The more you express gratitude for what you have, the more likely you will have even more to express gratitude for.”  Practice having the attitude of gratitude! I promise it will be a life-changing experience just like North Star Reach is for so many deserving kids and their families.

Christeen and all of volunteers who are a part of our North Star Reach family are helping make our camp dreams come true. Thank you! Want to share your time and talent with North Star Reach? Visit our volunteer page to get involved!