Boy Scout Camp Thanks to the Anonymous Gift

I can’t say enough about the Boy Scouts and what it has done for my boys. They’ve learned how to do Scout-y type things like knot tying and kayaking. They’ve learned survival skills like first aid and wilderness survival. They’ve learned values like perseverance and love of God, family, and country. They’ve learned to make new friends and get along with others, and they’ve taken leadership positions they wouldn’t have had the chance to try otherwise.

And today, Matt, George, and Noah will be heading off for a week at Boy Scout Camp thanks to an anonymous gift that I don’t know how to say thank you for. Boy Scout camp is the best way to get merit badges and to build camaraderie among the troop. The kids who go generally have a stronger connection to the other kids and the leaders which makes them more likely to attain Eagle Scout.

Boy Scout Camp is a week of hanging out with the guys, often accompanied by rainy weather, biting bugs, and using less than pristine port-o-potties that I don’t quite understand, but the experience somehow seems to bind these boys young men together and teaches them a ton of stuff that I, even with my outdoors experience, never could.

But it can also be quite expensive, and asking the boys’ father for help paying is out of the question.

So it’s been quite a while since any of my guys got to go to Boy Scout camp, and George especially is feeling like he has fallen behind his peers in rank advancement. This falling behind isn’t only because of missing camp. Don’t get me wrong. You can certainly keep pace and miss camp. It’s just more challenging, and, right now, anything I can do to make the boys’ lives easier is better!

But the kids’ activities really add up. Boy Scout camp is SO expensive (not compared to other camps, but for a single mom, almost any sleep away camp is a struggle).

And I have four Boy Scouts!

I’d never be able to afford camp for all of them!

So you can’t possibly imagine our shock last Christmas when we received a letter in the mail from an anonymous donor gifting the boys with summer camp! I can’t even put into words what my reaction was when I opened the envelope. I’m posting this picture of the letter because I don’t know what else to say or do.

Receiving this letter and the receipt for the check in the mail was an UNBELIEVABLE Blessing. I’ve read the letter over countless times and still just got teary when I pulled it out for this post. It is something I will hold onto and treasure forever.

And it is something my boys and I will do for some other children one day.

Paying our many Blessings forward.

That is the only way I know of to even begin to say thank you to whoever did this.

I don’t know the names of these wonderful, thoughtful people, but God does, and I thank HIm for them from the bottom of my heart.

If you have ideas on how I can thank this person or people or if you have ever been given or have given an anonymous gift, I’d love to hear about it!

Please click here to read about the difficulties the boys faced actually going to camp and Camp & The Desperate Text Messages.

or here to read about the Boy Scouts Court of Honor Ceremony.

God Bless…