Arrow-Heart campers donate blankets to worthy cause

Campers with Arrow-Heart Adventure Camps recently donated hand-made blankets to Surviving Hearts of Weiser, an organization dedicated to raising funds benefitting cancer patients in Adams, Washington, Payette, Malheur, and Baker counties.
 The blankets are an annual project for Arrow-Heart kids, the aim to teach them the benefit of donating time and energy to those experiencing adversity in their lives.
 “They make the blankets each and every year, and we try to donate them to a worthy cause, preferably cancer related organizations,” explained Arrow-Heart Program Director and CEO Steve Fenske. “We have delivered them to Ronald McDonald House and, for a couple of years, to ROSE Advocates. I wanted to deliver them to St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital, but I was informed that Surviving Hearts is an organization that helps cancer patients, so that’s who we gave seven blankets to this year. We made them last year, but we just never got together because of COVID.”
 The blankets were made by Arrow-Heart campers and have the organization’s logo on them.
 Surviving Hearts founder and president Shellie Colvard said the donation will go a long way in bringing a little comfort to those who are traveling along their cancer journey.
 “They were beautiful,” she said. “The kids that did them were just so sweet. The blankets are a big request. It’s a huge comforting thing for the cancer patients, especially if they are having a bad day. Something like that can really make all the difference in the world.”
 Founded in 2007, Arrow-Heart Adventure Camps focuses on enriching the lives of teens, ages 12-15, through challenging outdoor adventures.
 The program aims to provide participants with the building blocks to become responsible and productive adults using what it calls the “six C’s.” They are character, communication, critical thinking, commitment, courage, and compassion; and they aren’t just words, they represent key traits that help youth make the right choices in life.
 On April 26, Fenske, his coaches, mentors, and the campers will travel to Boise where they will have fun trying to find their way out of an escape room. Escape rooms, also known as escape games, puzzle rooms, or exit games, require participants to use critical thinking skills to escape a room where they are locked inside, using clues to solve puzzles to find the key that allows them to escape.
 Arrow-Heart sponsors several events and camping excursions throughout the year. It is an organization that caught the eye of the Elks Bingo Association, which typically donates to worthy causes.
 Last week, the association presented Arrow-Heart with a $450 check that will benefit the organization’s programs.
 Members chose Arrow-Heart based on the camp’s work with area youth.
 “We wanted to keep it local, and we’ve seen Steve’s kids in action,” said Elks Bingo Association representative Pat Moore. “Those kids really work their behinds off at events around town, like the Republican dinner. They were the best choice.”
 Moore said the donation was the last for the Elks Bingo Association, which held its final bingo event Feb. 10 before disbanding.
 “Four members put it together in 2016; I had talked with the secretary and vice president of the board of directors, and we decided to shut it down because we couldn’t find any help to keep it going. I mean, at the age of 80 and 85, you can’t do it forever.”
 For more information on Arrow-Heart Adventure Camps, visit www.arrowheartadventurecamps.org. For more information on Surviving Hearts, visit their Facebook page, or call (208) 781-1778.

Category:

Signal American

18 E. Idaho St.
Weiser, ID 83672
PH: (208) 549-1717
FAX: (208) 549-1718
 

Connect with Us