Camp Memberships

by Sam Wentworth

Past President, DECA
President, “No Limits Diabetes”

As the Diabetes Education and Camping Association (DECA) is maturing into the voice of camping for children with diabetes, so is its visibility among sponsors, corporate partners and individuals.  Cooperative efforts to aid all of the many corporate partners who so generously supply camps has been a major project of DECA over the last several years.  Corporate partners may now obtain almost all the information they need to supply all known camps worldwide by a single contact with DECA.  Parents searching for a camp in their area are also contacting DECA to obtain information.  Camps have received applications for children who live some distance away who either are looking for a specific type of program or a camp to attend while they are visiting relatives.  DECA has become an evermore important first point of contact for both families and corporate partners which will directly and indirectly benefit your camp.

The board of DECA has discussed camp memberships for a number of years.  As the web site of the Association has become a more and more important informational tool, it was felt that “the DECA name” would carry benefit to individual camps.  Since families and corporate partners might now first learn of your camp through the DECA web site, we felt that there would be “name recognition” if your camp could also say that your camp was a DECA member.  Since most camping programs for children with diabetes are short term and often do not operate in their own facility, it was felt that being able to advertise DECA membership could benefit your program.  Membership would not imply or require accreditation.  DECA will encourage camps to meet ACA standards; however, since the Association is a worldwide organization, ACA accreditation is not used in all countries.  DECA is an organization of sharing.  Through the newsletters, conferences and direct contacts among camps, all of the camps that have been active in the Association have benefited greatly.  Staff exchanges, material and idea sharing have grown each year.  Most important, however, is the person-to-person contact among “camp people” of all levels.

Now that there are two separate conferences, one for all staff and one for young staff, the benefit of camp membership in DECA is to let your counseling staff and young leaders know about this worldwide organization that will help energize their participation in diabetes camping.

Having been involved in short term camping programs for children with diabetes for many years, I feel that being able to advertise membership in DECA on brochures, letterhead and at the camp would be another means to interest parents and corporate partners in our programs.  It would be yet another good logo to put on materials just like ACA, ADA, CDA, Lions, etc., which does “catch the eye” of those we want to notice our programs.  I, for one, look forward to placing DECA membership on our camp information.

(Camp membership forms are available on our Downloads page found in the main menu above)