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Champ Camp would not be possible without our many fabulous volunteers. Those volunteers include our bus chaperones and agencies that assist us to and from camp.

In Southern California, we would like to extend our gratitude to Guava, Elizabeth, Ulbens, Alberto, Anthony, and Adrian. In addition to our chaperones, we appreciate Children’s Burn Foundation for not only letting us use their parking lot for the bus pick up/drop off, but for also providing breakfast and snacks. We also had lunch stops to and from camp. Bakersfield Firefighters Burn Foundation provided lunch on the way to camp and Kern County Firefighters Burn Survivor Trust provided lunch on the way home from camp.

From Northern California, we say thank you to our friends at Berkeley Fire, Hughson Fire, and Denair Fire for hosting our travel activities. Haze and Captain Barboza from Berkeley Fire ensured we had a great pick up and drop off location in the Bay Area and hung out with us until everyone was picked up and ready to go. Hughson Fire and Denair Fire hosted our lunch stops to and from camp and with their generosity and hospitality we were able to have a welcoming and safe space for families to meet and enjoy a meal before being sent off with goodie bags filled with some awesome road snacks. We thank our wonderful bus chaperones for volunteering their time and ensuring the rides to and from camp ran smoothly and safely. Thank you: Giddy, Lumpy, Cannonball, Shadow, Foghorn, Tony with Hughson Fire, Aaron with Denair Fire, and Haze with Berkeley Fire.

While they didn’t have to travel as far as the Northern or Southern buses, the Central bus chaperones are still very much needed and appreciated. Not only do they gather up the children from the Central Valley, they also pick up campers arriving by air. Thank you for spending your time ensuring that our campers arrived safely. Our wonderful Central California volunteers included “D”, Redvine, Flamingo and Hurricane.

We are incredibly thankful for the Fresno City College, Fire Academy Class 61 cadets who raised $17,000 for AARBF and Champ Camp. Their donation is the equivalent of sending 17 kids to camp!

On June 7, AARBF’s Daniel Chacon attended the graduation ceremony for Class 61. We are so excited to see these cadets move on to fire agencies throughout the Central Valley.

During the month of June, Cheer LA raised funds for AARBF and our Survivor Services programs. AARBF’s Martha Banks and Daniel Chacon met up with the Cheer LA team on Saturday, June 9, at the LA Pride Parade.

Our friends with the Angel Flight West team fly burn survivors from areas outside of the bus pick up/drop off locations for several of our camp and recreational programs. We are extremely grateful for their support in ensuring our campers could make it to all the different events we have hosted to date, especially Champ Camp. Angel Flight West and the coordination team ensured that over 30 of our campers safely flew in and out of Fresno to attend Champ Camp 2024. Thanks to their team and the amazing volunteer pilots, our campers were able to experience a life-changing year surrounded by other burn survivors and truly awesome people. We appreciate all of your hard work and for keeping our campers’ safety as the number one priority.

The annual Champy-On fundraiser concluded its 8-week run on June 7, raising $35,558 with 258 donations! While we didn’t reach our goal, the impact is still strongly felt and will continue forward. Thanks to our participating individuals and teams, the programs and services of AARBF have been introduced to a much larger audience we had before. We cannot thank you enough for sharing AARBF with your family and friends. We appreciate your support and dedication to AARBF.

On the last weekend of April, AARBF was so honored to be invited to the City of Monrovia’s 2024 Public Safety/Sensory Friendly event for Autism Acceptance, celebrating families and providing a nurturing, safe, and fascinating way to relate to first responders and community service partners. Monrovia Police and Monrovia Fire & Rescue made a great day for everyone. We were there with our N.I.C.K. program of picture-reinforced fire and burn safety messages for those who don’t always do well with written and verbal learning. This program, developed with the experts at Pyramid Educational Consultants, makes sure everyone can learn and affirm important safety messages like Stop, Drop and Roll, Cool a Burn for 5 minutes, and if there is smoke in the room Get Low and Go. We also got to meet Trixie, the three-legged therapy dog, who knows how to and demonstrated Stop, Drop and Roll!

May 4 was Wildfire Preparedness Day, but for those of us in California, we know that Wildfire Preparedness is a 365-day-a-year opportunity. One of the most important pieces of a preparedness plan is to have your “Go Bag” or emergency kit ready to grab. In your go bag, you want to focus on the “Four Ps”– that is items for People & Pets; Papers (important documents, passports, etc); Phone (and phone numbers); and Prescriptions (medicines, vitamins, eyeglasses/contact lenses, and any medications for your animals, as well). In addition to the Four Ps, you want a paper map with at least two evacuation routes marked (in case there is no cellular or WiFi service), 3-day supply of non-perishable food and water for each person and animal, extra car keys, credit cards and cash, first aid kit and sanitation supplies, change of clothes including closed toe shoes. If all this is pre-packed in an easily grabbable duffel or backpack, you will be able to face a wildfire (or any evacuation emergency) with much more confidence and peace of mind. Click here if you’d like to see more resources for wildfire preparedness.

New Counselor Training (NCT) 2024, was packed with silly, high-energy twenty-three amazing new counselors coming into our Champ Camp family this year.

We participated in training through team building exercises, handbook overview, counselor/ camp expectations, camp/facility tours, campfire with skits, and learning songs.

We are happy to introduce you to our new counselors for 2024:

Taro, Baymax, R2, Shiba, Bruno, Mater, Trebel, Flaka, Mac n Cheese, Sunkist, Chilla, Tyde, Ultra Violet, Sunny, Mijo, Ginger, Wasabi, Berrie, Jiu Jeddie, Cinnamon, Sinker, Squirrel and Spaghetti.

If you plan to be enrolled in the 2024/25 academic year at a Trade School, Junior College, or University, it is not too late to apply for a financial scholarship through AARBF’s “Bridge to Life” Scholarship offered by the Woody and Louise Reed family to support burn survivors and their family members pursuing higher education.

Applications are closing on June 30, 2024: https://forms.gle/HCaBGdzJeqz3qvxu8

And if you are pursuing a master’s degree or PhD, you can use the same application to apply for the “Aiming Higher” scholarship for burn survivors, sponsored by Care Plans for Life, LLC.

And if the application get sticky for you, your Care Managers, Martha and Michael, are always ready to help.

Because of the traumatic nature of a burn injury, it is common for burn survivors to experience flashbacks and nightmares.  As they go through the physical and emotional impact of the injury, burn survivors may experience feelings of depression, anxiety, body image, social isolation, withdrawal from relationships, low self-esteem, and chronic pain, just to mention some. Also, some burn survivors may deal with grief and loss and survivor’s guilt due to the loss of a loved one during the accident.

There are different techniques, coping skills practices and self-care strategies burn survivors can practice to help manage and improve some of the mental health symptoms during recovery, such as relaxation techniques, mindfulness, stress management, and more.  AARBF can support you through your recovery journey. Let us know how we can help. At AARBF, we have the following services available: Peer Support, virtual and in-person support groups, therapy grants, retreats, and more. Please contact one of our Care Managers today at mbanks@aarbf.org or mknopf@aarbf.org.