The Capital One Bank Dallas YMCA 2011 Turkey Trot

Reasons To Give

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Jared

Life had dealt 11 year old Jared a tough hand. At 7, Jared had experienced the tragic lost his mother in an auto accident and now he was facing even more. Earlier this year Jared’s father had been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer.

Through the Y’s financial assistance program, Jared’s dad wrote a selfless letter asking for help to give Jared the opportunity to be a “normal boy for awhile.”

Jared’s dad was undergoing dramatic cancer treatments and continuing to try and work. His wish was that Jared, could escape the pain of seeing him go through his day to day struggle and go to Camp Grady Spruce for a couple of weeks.

For 2 weeks Jared was a normal kid, making friends, playing hard, participating in water sports, riding horses and just having camp fun. The majority of the campers and camp staff never knew Jared’s story but they knew Jared. As a matter of fact, Jared was considered one of the “top dogs” at Main Camp by camper and staff.

Jared still faces a hard road, but for a couple of weeks he got to be that “normal kid” doing normal things at an incredible place called Camp Grady Spruce.

Did You Know?

• Camp Grady Spruce is comprised of 3 campsites totaling 635 acres on the glistening shores of Possum Kingdom Lake 120 miles west of Dallas.
• Dallas YMCA camp programs began in 1922 with Camp Crockett near Granbury, Texas. A generous gift of property from the Constantin family allowed the YMCA to relocate to the shores of Possum Kingdom Lake in 1949.
• Summer 2009, Camp provided 946 campers an overnight experience
• 7,800 elementary age students and adults participate in Outdoor Education at Camp, which uses the environment to reinforce classroom learning in science, math and literary skills.
• Almost all 4,000 Adventure Guides and their Dad’s in the Dallas Metropolitan area attend Camp Grady Spruce at least once on a campout each year.

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