Thank Yous!

This will probably be the most difficult part of this page, but here it goes!

The first and most obvious thank you goes to Jesus! He spoke the word of instruction and gave us the Faith and Hope to follow through and we watched Him make it ALL possible. The idea(s), funding, trips, venue, the children that He clearly hand selected to be attend and so much more, my God, you did it all and saw us through at times when we didn't know what was to happen next. Thank you.

Super special thanks to our parents! It wasn't until WE got married that we realized the incredible patience you guys must have had rasising us (laughs)!

Wyetta McCowan

Polk O'Neal

Louella Clement

Mr. William (Billy-boy) & Mrs. Gloria McCowan

Dr. Berry (above). There are truly not enough words to say to express to you our deepest thanks for what you have done for us. Back in 2013, we were just two strangers from the neighborhood that came to you at the Charles Young Facility with a vision for a class (that God gave us the idea to start). How easy it could have been for you to reject our vision, but from day one, you believed in it and your continued care and support made it clear that you believed in us. Without your trust, support and advice, none of this would have been possible. We had no idea that after all those sessions of operating our class that it would flourish into the amazing camp that we conducted. Woman of God, we thank you for your dedication, and the important role you played in giving those children an unforgettable summer camp experience! Special thanks to Mr. Ken Menefee! As with Dr. Berry, from the start you believed in what we were doing and was never slack in assisting us in whatever concern or need we brought to you. Most importantly, you always managed to find a way to help us in ways we never even mentioned. You are always going the extra mile and we thank you for your persistence. A special thank you to Aamir Saadiq! Thank you, man for the encouraging words to push us to go further. And thank you to the entire Charles Young staff for all your help and enduring a noisy gymnasium (smiles)! Special thank to Mr. and  Mrs. Kennedy and Laurenda Boteng. We didn't know each other from the beginning of all this, but it feels like we did. Your contributions and support literally took us a long way. Your love and trust in who we were, simply as people was far more than it had to be. You definitely got us through a rough time in our life outside of camp and that resulted in a blessing to use for camp as well. You will never have any idea of the volume your support gave us. We often look back still in disbelief. The William Wells Brown Elementary literacy program would not have been as amazing as it was without your transportation contribution. You did for no one ever does and with that, we were able to help many others. May God bless you and your family in double the magnitude in which you helped us. Another special thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Manuel and Candice Gonzales. At this point, words fail.. You all have been MORE than our Brother and Sister, MORE than our friends, MORE than our confidants, MORE than our support, MORE than our Pastors, my goodness, you guys have superseded my definition of what a spiritual relationship entails. We thank you guys so much for all that you have extended to us and shared with us, ESPECIALLY your children, not just in camp. We have certainly learned a lot from you, love you guys! A Special big thanks to Stephen Overstreet. You supported, believed and took us to the mountain top to get married. An additional special thanks to William Henderson III. Three, I can't say this about many people, but I thank you, man for being obedient to God's voice. You still have no idea how you blessed us that day in your truck at the Ridge, but you've always come through for me when I needed you. On that particular day, we really had no idea how we were going to make it happen for the next stent, but you were right on time and have no idea to what capacity. Special thanks to Erika McCowan, our youngest sister. Sissy, without your help I can assure you the children would not have gone on those trips. We thank you so much for your support, especially on short notice. Thank you for not only for the support, but also being active and participating when you really didn't have to, nor did we ask that of you. We love you, girlie! A very blessed thank you to Mrs. Gloria and husband (Dominique's grandparents). The radical love you showed two strangers exemplified how we should all treat one another. You all stayed committed and involved yourself as much as you could without us even asking that of you. Your support and advice carried us very far. Thank you for all the time you spent in helping us and for all the uplifting conversations we had about our Lord. You adopted the entire camp and treating us all as if we were your grandchildren. You all are unlike anyone else we know in your generation. We often saw ourselves as younger versions of you and you because of all that we had in common. God bless you and your ministering. A huge thank you goes out to Seedleaf, particularly, Jeremy who supported us and connected us with Ms. Erin Kelley. Erin, thank you, thank you, thank you and to your assistant as well (sorry we forgot his name)! Your time, kindness, patience, assistance and support goes such a long way. All that you taught the children will surely help them in the long run, they absolutely loved it over there! Thank you for taking the time out of your day to invest it into a group of children you had never met. You truly made that experience awesome for us! A huge thank you to Mr. Francis  of  Francis Screen Printing. You made it possible for us to have a signature look to uniform the camp, thank you. Another thank you for allowing the children to come by and see how all that intricate machinery can produce such a small design, needless to say they were very intrigued. Thank you for taking time out of your schedule to show them. A very warm thank you to The Artist Attic, particularly Mr. Robert Sanford and JC Halcomb.  We thank you so much  for the passion and interest you expressed in the children and in what we were doing. Mr. Sanford, I've known you for almost 20 years and that same care you gave me and my horrible artwork back in high school, was nothing shy of what you gave the children we brought by. You are an outstanding artist, a true teacher and educator and well, a very kind man. Thank you! Another huge thank you to God's Pantry, particularly Ms. Katie Landon and Katelyn. In a nutshell, you made it totally possible for the children to have adequate meals EVERY day of camp. Thank you for all the extra care and support you showed us that went beyond your job description, yes, we're aware (smiles). Thank you for believing in our vision. You could have second guessed us and our motives, but upon us meeting and giving you our proposal you said you wanted to be on board with what we were doing. Thank you so much! And while we're on the subject of food, to our favorite pizza place in Lexington, Ky, we'd like to give a special thanks to West Coast Gourmet Pizza (Hussein, Tariq and Aladdin). You guys have no idea how much of a blessing you were in supporting us and the children with their lunch. Tariq, thank you for the kind words when I worked there and you saw my artwork and asked, "what the heck are you doing here"? (smiles). And thanks again when you saw the children and what we were doing and wished us well in it, though it probably made no sense to you, thank you guys! A huge thank you to the staff at Kentucky Mudworks! You guys showed amazing hospitality to complete strangers. Thank you so much for the impromptu tours and allowing the children to experience working in a pottery studio!

All other thank yous:
Mr. Jack Givens and Mayor Jim Gray
(thank you for taking the time out of your day to converse with the children)
Zeigler Stained Glass (thank you for the impromptu tutorial)
The Explorium (thanks for allotted time you gave)
Whispering Woods
Mrs. Betty-Jo
Wild Things Of Kentucky
The 1687 Foundation (thank you for supporting us with AWESOME reading material)
Sonia Rivera  of Youth Genesis
Maria Garcia of TBH

Thank you to those that supported our early programs and events:
Pastor Larry Weathers
Pastor Jerry Stephenson
Pastor Recina Coles
Michael Jackson and the Lexington Christian Foundation
David & Miranda Wallace
Shane & Heather Gurry
Quincy & Allison Robinson
Ralph E. Taylor
Tyrone Maurice
Joyce Brown
Damon Muhammad

And last but certainly not least, to all you parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts! Without you all, camp would not have existed. Thank you for your support, contributions, prayers and most importantly,
YOUR CHILDREN!!! (smiles) 

For all those we have failed to mention, please accept our apologies. You mean no less than anyone named above. God planted everyone specifically where they needed to be. Thank you for being steadfast in your position!