WinShape Camp is coming to Vicksburg.
The summer camp for children in grades 1 though 6 was established in 1985 by Chick-Fil-A founder, S. Truett Cathy, as a way to challenge young people physically and spiritually. In 2008, the program was expanded to include a touring, week-long day camp serving communities across the U.S.
“There’s only 72 communities that get to have this camp,” said Adrienne Simms, marketing manager for the Vicksburg Chick-fil-A restaurant told Vicksburg Kiwanis Club members. “We’re so excited.”
The camp will be in Vicksburg June 2 to 5. Crossway Church on U.S. 61 South will be its host.
Simms discussed the camp and put in a request for volunteers and sponsors to help with the camp and assist its staff, which she said is composed of seminarians and college students.
“This is a faith-based curriculum, which I think is so important for Vicksburg and our kids,” she said. “If you look at it, the children who accept Christ are most likely to do that between the ages of 5 through 12, and then it dwindles after an individual gets older. So if we can their attention while they’re young, hopefully it will help them make a decision for eternity.”
The camp’s staff, she said, is currently being trained by the WinShape staff.
She said the camp “is the caliber of the go-away camp, but your kids are not actually leaving. We have 12 different skill sets they (the children) get to choose from. They choose three and they do them all week.” Simms said the Vicksburg Chick-fil-A is looking for help with the camp from volunteers and sponsors in the community to help make the staff’s time in the city enjoyable and their job bit easier.
“We can have 500 kids, and as the host location we’ve committed to having one volunteer for every 10 children,” she said. “That’s a least 50 volunteers. But we want to do even more than that.”
She said the staff members who will work with the children at the camp will be driving here from Georgia and will have to unload equipment from a semi-truck after they arrive, adding some help from the community would be appreciated.
“We want to say, ‘hey, it’s OK, we’re here to help,’” Sims said. “We want to pamper the staff, make sure they’re taken care of, because they’re going to be taking care of our kids.
“We don’t want them to be tired because they unloaded something or taken care of something one of us could have done, and they can be more involved with our kids. They’re building strategic relationships with our kids to enhance that week and to make it so exciting and for them to learn and have a constructive summer.”
People or organizations interested in volunteering for the camp can call Vicksburg Chick-fil-A owner Nick Jones at 601-661-0001, Vicksburg/WinShape Partnership member Shelly Tingle at 601-218-1294, Vicksburg/WinShape camp Liaison Bryan Tribble, 601-636-2596, or Vicksburg/WinShape volunteer coordinator Lee Ann Stuart at 601-218-1272.