GT Austin (Church of Glad Tidings) in Austin, Texas has been privileged to sponsor a Royal Family KIDS Camp every summer since 1994. Our next camp will be a great celebration – it’s our 25-year anniversary! You can imagine that there will be some wonderful surprises in store for the fortunate campers who get to attend this special camp.
Our camp directors, Debbie Watson and Netra Von Heeder, have been involved with Royal Family KIDS for many years. Debbie and Netra are assisted by Calvin and Jeanie Estepp, who founded our camp and served as directors for over 10 years.
Our volunteers love serving at this camp. Many of our counselors and support staff have been a part of Austin RFK for more than 15 years – some have been with us for all 24 years! College students, middle-aged moms, young professionals, retired folks – all types of people find joy in serving these precious children of Central Texas.
As you might imagine, it’s not easy to raise nearly $60,000 each year to create a fun-filled week of positive memories for these children, but the smiles on those campers’ faces are priceless and worth every effort.
Throughout the year, our volunteers have fun together as we raise the money for next summer’s camp. We have several exciting fundraisers each year so that we can provide this wonderful safe haven for the hurting children of Central Texas.
Royal Family KIDS Camp has a camper-to-counselor ratio of 2:1 with at least 30 additional support staff. Activities are purposefully designed to be non-competitive while allowing every child to experience success. God’s unconditional love is modeled consistently through the games, sports, activity centers, Bible stories, drama productions, and quiet times the campers share with their counselors.