Reflecting on summer, embracing new activities & winter planning!

Keep the magic of camp going...

Camp doesn't need to stop when summer ends. We welcome the change of seasons and new camp adventures at Saturday Camp.

Saturday campers are having fun in the kitchen with long-time program partner Haley House, tending gardens and learning about ecosystems and pollination at Tending Your Yard, Tending The Earth, and exploring the environment around them with Navigation Games.

Our campers this fall are curious and eager to learn. We've seen them make new friends, grow comfortable in new environments, and share their interests and passions with camp friends and counselors.

Saturday camp sessions run for 8 Saturdays each fall, winter, and spring.

Sign up today for our upcoming winter session!

STEAM in the kitchen and beyond!

Feb 19 - Feb 23, 2024 9am-2:30pm

An in-person STEAM-centered cooking program for middle schoolers through the February school vacation week. Participants explore the science, technology, engineering, art and math of cooking. Ingredients and supplies are provided.

Get Out There!

April 15 - April 19, 2024 9am-2:30pm

STEAM-based nature school vacation program with field trips to different natural areas. Daily field trips and program partners include Northeastern University's Marine Center, the Blue Hills Reservation, and a visit with Navigation Games.

Drone and Aeronautics

April 15 - April 19, 2024 9am-2:30pm

STEAM-centered program introducing the science and engineering of aeronautics and flight. Campers start with the basics of flight by testing designs of paper and foam airplanes, crafting airfoils and making propellers and engines, eventually building and flying drones.

The cost for each school vacation camp is $50

Registration for all vacation camps is open to children ages 9-13

The Village Building Series is a support group for adults that work with children impacted by trauma. Monthly meetings consist of community building activities, therapeutic exercises, self-care, and resource sharing, facilitated by a program director and a social worker.

The 4th Thursday of Every Month, 5:30pm-7:30pm

September 28 - June 27

Meals and Childcare Provided

Open to anyone who would benefit.

Cambridge Camping is proud to present the annual community service award to René Russo, Pharm.D., CEO of Xilio Therapeutics. As Xilio’s CEO, Dr. Russo has embedded a culture of giving back by orchestrating multiple donation drives and fundraising activities and creating an annual day of service and other volunteer opportunities throughout the year. For over a decade, Dr. Russo’s philanthropy efforts have extended across the greater Boston community, supporting non-profits and initiatives to benefit children and their families. Dr. Russo is a founding Board member for Life Science Cares, an organization that unites the life sciences industry to help address the impact of poverty and provide basic needs and access to education and opportunity. For six years, she served as a Trustee for the Nashoba Brooks School in Concord and, over the years, has engaged in so many other opportunities to give back through community service, donations, and fundraising.

In 2022, René reached out to Cambridge Camping to develop a Xilio donation campaign during the holidays to help send kids to our summer camps. Through Dr. Russo’s continued support, this year Xilio donated and filled up more than 170 backups of camping items for our summer campers and spent the day volunteering at one of our summer camps.

This year, Cambridge Camping On the GO! went virtual, with an inspiring story. Cambridge Camping welcomed Pulitzer Prize Winner Ron Suskind to share his story about raising his son with autism. At age 3, Ron’s son Owen inexplicably retreated behind a wall of silence. Ron and his wife were devastated. Where did Owen go? Would he ever return? What followed for Ron and the Suskind family were many painful years marked by doubt, fear, false hope and repeated failure, until one day came a thrilling and unexpected breakthrough. Turns out, Owen was there all along; he was just waiting to be found. Ron’s story speaks to the power of meeting children where they are, and what that asks of us as adults: a willingness to reconsider our deeply held beliefs about what constitutes a successful, meaningful, and happy life. In the end, the Suskind family’s journey is a story about love, community, respect, and joy; values that also guide the work at Cambridge Camping.

Ruth’s relationship with Cambridge Camping and her commitment to ensuring access to camp goes back decades. Growing up in Cambridge in a working-class neighborhood, she and her siblings attended overnight camps as part of CCA’s scholarship and referral program. “These camp experiences changed my life! I bonded with peers and counselors, and loved being in nature, and out of the City.”

As a young adult Ruth worked at Daybreak Day Camp, a program CCA launched over 30 years ago. When Ruth’s own children began going to overnight camp, she realized the high cost of camp and worried that some children might not have these opportunities, so she began donating to CCA, in the spirit of “access.” Ruth believes that camp is an opportunity that children shouldn’t miss due to lack of resources, and she knows Cambridge Camping will do whatever it takes to help families access programming. In her capacity as a social worker and through her connections in Cambridge, Ruth refers many families in need to CCA. Long-standing relationships and support like Ruth’s help CCA create a community where every child has a chance to experience camp.

Thank you Ruth!

Discounted half-marathon registrations!

Love running? Want to run the Cambridge Half Marathon on November 5th?

Cambridge Camping has a limited number of discounted bibs for people interested in fundraising for their participation in this incredible community event!

Sign ups for the race are only $50 (discounted from $100) and there are no minimums needed for fundraising! Raise what you can, it all goes to

help send children from under-served communities to summer camp.

Email Sean Effel at sean@cambridgecamping.org to learn more or sign up.

Please feel free to forward this newsletter to anyone who may be

interested in Cambridge Camping's work, and thank you for reading!