August 2008
Non-profit Profile - Camping and Education Foundation
Chartered in 1962, the Camping and Education Foundation is a nationally recognized 501(c)(3), not-for-profit Foundation, that promotes the growth and development of young people through its camps; Camp Kooch-i-ching for boys, ages 8-18, and Camp Ogichi Daa Kwe for girls, ages 10-21. The camps are located east of International Falls, Minnesota on Rainy Lake with Ogichi's campus on the mainland in Franks Bay and Kooch-i-ching occupying Deer Island, a three-hundred acre parcel.
Since its inception, the Camping and Education Foundation's mission has been to provide single-sex educational opportunities in a safe, wilderness setting. As an umbrella organization, the Camping and Education Foundation fosters a sense of individual growth, support for the greater community, the ideals of service to others, respect for one's environment, the understanding of belonging and lifelong learning on the part of its campers, staff and alumni.
Originally formed in the early 1920s as a football camp with the a sports-wilderness focus, Camp Kooch-i-ching underwent a programming shift in 1947 that coupled a more traditional in-camp program-sailing, rifelry, woodsmanship and swimming-with many elements from the Native American culture as well as with an even more robust wilderness tripping experience. Today, Camp Kooch-i-ching's wilderness tripping program offers three styles of trips: canoeing, backpacking and climbing. The destination and length of trips vary for each age group from seven to twenty-one days with destinations that range from Voyageurs National Park in Ontario or Manitoba for canoeing to Montana, Wyoming or Colorado for climbing and backpacking. Kooch-i-ching has more than 270 campers participate each summer in either its four or eight-week sessions; these campers come from twenty-eight states and four foreign countries.
A point of pride for Kooch-i-ching is the fact that the majority of the camp's facilities, over seventy log or frame structures which includes the historic Main Lodge, the John L. Holden Trips Center, the John Mealius Dining Hall and the Mason Memorial which houses the camp library, store, post office and office, were all built by the camp's campers and staff. These structures reflect the spirit of team-work; service and creativity that are hallmarks of the camp's philosophy.
In 2004, the Foundation embarked on the path of creating a girls' camp that would capture many of the same program elements upon which Kooch-i-ching was developed; specifically, the combination of a traditional residential, in-camp component with a wilderness tripping program. Since 2004, Ogichi Daa Kwe's program has grown tremendously and now has over 100 campers and 20 staff participating in its seven, ten and 30 day-long programs. This past summer marked another first for Ogichi and its campers, as some of the older girls significantly expanded the camp's tripping horizons by taking a two-week canoe trip in Manitoba, Canada and down the Bloodvein River ending in Lake Winnipeg.
The experiences at both Camp Kooch-i-ching and Camp Ogichi Daa Kwe create life-long connections for young people and teach them about themselves in ways they would not normally experience by spending the summers at home. On average, most campers attend for four or more summers, with many returning as counselors and later enrolling their own sons and daughters in the program as they enter into adulthood.
If you would like to find out more about the Camping and Education Foundation and its camps; Camp Kooch-i-ching and Camp Ogichi Daa Kwe, please visit their respective websites (
www.koochiching.org or
www.ogichi.com) or call the Foundation's offices at 513.772.7479.
