Knoxville’s Fresh Air Camp offers  sanctuary to children who need respite from life’s challenges

Story and photography by Kasey Jackson

The children sit in rows on the floor. They wear swimsuits, but you usually can’t tell, since most are tightly wrapped in their towels. Some giggle. Some talk. Others stare straight ahead. And still a few more are angry with others for talking and giggling so much.

The Kiwanis Fresh Air Camp building is hard to miss, branded with a large “K” above the front door. TOP: Swimming helps forge first-day friendships that will last beyond camp week.

Fresh Air Camp, by the numbers 140 campers in the overnight program (first four weeks) 40 campers with disabilities during last two weeks More than 200 volunteers 23 Kiwanian volunteers

After lunch, Fresh Air campers take part in free time. Half head for the pool, while others play games and basketball. Later, they switch places.

“SHHHH!” hisses one girl, who is eager to get outside. “We’re supposed to be in a straight line!” whispers another.

Row by row, a camp counselor chooses which kids have lined up the straightest and been the quietest. Up they hop, and outside they go for a much-needed break from the summer heat.

It’s a scene Sheena Curley has seen countless times the past 15 years at the Fresh Air Camp, a refuge for children provided by the Kiwanis Club of Knoxville, Tennessee. A devoted Kiwanian, Sheena signs on as director of the camp for six weeks each summer, in addition to working full-time as director of Great Starts, a nursery administered by Child and Family Tennessee for at-risk infants and children who have been exposed to drugs.

In operation for 84 years, the Fresh Air Camp offers a safe haven where underprivileged children can escape for a week to create arts and crafts projects, enjoy sports and games, maneuver a ropes course, jump into a cool pool, and build long-lasting friendships. Children ages 7 to 12 visit the six-week camp for the first four weeks, with the last two weeks devoted to children who have disabilities. Many who attend this camp don’t qualify to attend other summer camps because of physical, emotional, or psychological problems.

That’s exactly why Sheena and a slew of Kiwanians, counselors, junior helpers, and volunteers from the community open the camp each year.

“When the children come,” Sheena says, “some are shy. Some don’t want to be here. And some have been here before and will be hanging all over me. These are my kids.”

The weeks are special to the campers, but also to the Knoxville Kiwanians. This past summer, 23 Kiwanians stopped by to help at the camp—beating Sheena’s goal of 20. Another 70 Kiwanians and guests joined the campers for the Family Night cookout.

But the Kiwanians don’t just show up at the camp to visit with the kids. Untold months of hard work and planning go into making these six weeks special for the kids—who pay nothing to attend the camp.

The Kiwanis club stages a pancake breakfast each year to raise funds to send the children to camp. It costs US$150 to send each child to the camp, and members of the club are asked to raise $300 each by selling tickets to the pancake breakfast. (Some Kiwanians go above and beyond that goal. In fact, Kiwanian John Smartt raises about $8,000 each year on his own.) This past year, the club raised more than $36,000 through ticket sales—more than enough to pay for the 180 children who attended.

“It’s incredible to be able to do this for the kids and the families,” Sheena says. “It’s so neat to say to a mom, ‘It doesn’t cost you a thing.’”

The memories made at the Fresh Air Camp endure, and the relationships span even longer. Children often know others at the camp, or even campers from years past. But the best stories come unexpectedly.

“Several years ago, Officer Joe Mace was our Policeman of the Year award recipient,” says Leslie Grossman Frederick, the club’s immediate past president. “When he stood up to accept the award, he flabbergasted us by telling us he was a camper at our Fresh Air Camp as a child.”

Past Kiwanis International President Bo Shafer, a member of the Knoxville club, has been visiting the camp since his “daddy,” also a Kiwanian, took him as a young child. Since those days, Bo has been to the camp every year, playing with the kids and making an impression on many of the campers.

“I’ve spent many years going out there and guitar pickin’ with them,” Bo says. “Now my brother is doing it. I’ve had grownups come up to me and say they remember me playing guitar for them. It’s just a great program. It’s been such a great experience.

Kiwanian and camp director Sheena Curley demonstrates how to rinse and hang tie-dyed shirts, a favorite project among campers, counselors, and volunteers.

“We used to measure success by how much weight the kids gained. It’s not that way now. Now we measure success by how much most of the youngsters want to come back. They want to be counselors when they are older. It’s so obvious the way they love it. They all love the swimming, of course. And a lot of them cry when they have to leave.”

While visits to the pool undoubtedly are the highlight of most campers’ weeks, Sheena sees the entire experience as much more than just a chance to take a swim.

“When they come here, we give them a break,” she says. “I have one family who has seven kids. This year, the mom sent all seven.

“There is no TV. No VCRs. No Gameboys. The week is meant to teach them how to build friendships without any of that. I feel it’s a place where kids can be kids and not worry about what’s going on at home.

“My love is children. I focus my life on children. It’s a chance to give back. Kiwanis serves children. Their goals and my goals are the same.”

The campground also is used throughout the year by other organizations—Boy and Girl Scouts and Head Start—rehabilitation centers, and churches. The Kiwanis Club of Knoxville, through the Fresh Air Camp, provides assistance to more than 700 people annually.