Golden Corral partners with 4-H and YMCAs across the country to hold free summer camps for children of military families, especially wounded, disabled or fallen military families.
“Golden Corral was looking for a way to build on our commitment of honoring our veterans and their families,” said Dolly Mercer, Golden Corral marketing manager. “We raise money for the disabled American Veterans Association, we have raised over $8 million dollars for the DAV. So we were looking for another way to serve our veterans and their families and it was decided we should do a camp. ”
Camp Corral is a free week-long camp for children of military parents, with a priority given to disabled or fallen military families. This is a place where children going through similar life events can meet and interact with other children who may have also lost a parent or had one deployed for most of their childhood.
Camp Corral started three years ago with a test location in North Carolina that had over 300 children in the first camp. This camp has now expanded to 20 locations across 16 states with space for over 3000 kids.
“It’s a camping experience where kids can participate in canoeing, kayaking, hiking, swimming, fishing, archery, horseback riding just any outdoor activity to kind of get away from the day-to-day challenges of these wounded and disabled parents,” Mercer said. “Our goal is to just give them a week of a lifetime and just let them be kids.”
The Oklahoma location for Camp Corral is the YMCA Camp Classen in Davis, Oklahoma. These camps are all staffed by the YMCA or 4-H personnel who work through the summer; Golden Corral rents out the camps for a week at a time and sends management and employees on Sunday to welcome the incoming children and their parents.
“We try to encourage the Golden Corral employees and management team to go and welcome the parents, and we give the kids backpacks with a ton of fun things in them and we give the kids T-shirts,” Mercer said. “This gives the Golden Corral team a connection to something they are supporting.”
Golden Corral also hosts a Military Appreciation Monday every year in November which gives free meals to veterans and their families as a thank you in order to serve the troops who serve our country.
Camp Corral has plans to continue its expansion next year. It wants to have a camp anywhere there is a large military presence, a nearby campground that meets their criteria and a collection of Golden Corral stores to support the camp. Eat at your local Golden Corral restaurants this month to help support this camp or donate and register your children at www.campcorral.org
