Why We Give Back
For me, making a difference started back in High School. I was the one who jumped in immediately and took charge, the natural organizer, sparking creativity in myself and others, and encouraging the FUN! It was empowering to work for a cause and achieve a positive outcome, whether it was for school, a club, my college sorority, or university...I was always striving toward the next step in my journey, making a difference in the world.
Each small step forward I took in establishing the CampExperience™ Network has led me to fulfill that dream of doing good around the world. Connecting with like-hearted people has been a catalyst for moving mountains, and now I have a brand centered around Doing Good & Having Fun!
Together we have raised over $1 million for 50 charities across the globe.
Our small acts of kindness have made a BIG impact, and that’s what I call BIG FUN!
XOXO, Betsy
Mile High United Way
United We Fight, United We Win
Mile High United Way was the first United Way in the world. A group of visionaries, including a Denver woman, a priest, two ministers, and a rabbi, came together on October 16, 1887, and formed what is known today as Mile High United Way.
They believed everyone in our community should have the opportunity to succeed, even if the odds were stacked against them. Mile High United Way fights for the education, health, and financial stability for everyone in Metro Denver.
Sock It To 'Em Sock Campaign
Thirty-five million people across America experience homelessness each year, 23% are military veterans. The Sock-it-to-‘em Sock Campaign aims to cover the feet of as many of those in need as possible before each new year. Their motto is, “We’re taking socks to the streets!”
Anyone in any location can participate by donating socks, becoming a Sock Ambassador, or just sharing information about The Sock-it-to-‘em Sock Campaign on social media or through email.
As of January 2020, they have collected over 650,000 socks since it began in 2012!
Samaritan House
Catholic Charities of Denver operates a 365-day shelter called Samaritan House in downtown Denver and provides services to over 300 people every night. We provide more than shelter, food, and clothing services.
We help break the cycle of homelessness and restore hope and dignity for men, women, veterans, and children by operating an extended-stay 120-day program to meet both the immediate needs, as well as provide case management, life skills classes (such as housing, money management, and employment assistance), support groups and collaborative relationships with community resources.
Catholic Charities of Denver’s Women’s Emergency Shelter provides services for women who need immediate shelter and a safe place to sleep 365 days a year. Located in northeast Denver, they offer more than 225 beds each night for women and provide a free hot meal for dinner and breakfast. The staff offers compassionate and dignified care to connect women in need to other supportive and transformational services they may need to get a fresh start and regain their self-sufficiency.
Included in our women’s emergency shelter, Samaritan House Women’s Transitional Shelter provides case management, recovery resources, life skill classes, mental health services, and other supportive services through Catholic Charities of Denver.
Women's Bean Project
Jossy Eyre founded Women’s Bean Project 30 years ago with the mission to change women’s lives by providing stepping stones to self-sufficiency through social enterprise. This Colorado non-profit organization believes all women have the power to transform their lives through employment. It hires women who are chronically unemployed and teaches them to work by making nourishing products. While working at Women’s Bean Project, women learn to stand tall, find their purpose, and break the cycle of poverty. Because when you change a woman’s life, you change her family’s life.
Today Women’s Bean Project has an operating budget of more than $2M per year, and its products are sold in nearly 1,000 stores nationwide, including King Soopers, Whole Foods, Safeway, as well as small specialty retailers. You can also buy Women’s Bean Project products online on its website, Amazon.com, and other e-commerce partner platforms.
Women’s Bean Project has served over 1,000 women in its 30 years and is working toward serving more women better into the future.
Random Acts of Kindness
One-third of The CampExperience™ Network monies raised supports what we call “Random Acts of Kindness.”
Some years these are small donations to organizations that are supported by our Camp Sponsors and Sisters, and some years they are more organized larger projects.
Every donation helps a targeted audience with not only cash, but exposure, volunteer time, and support.
A few of our larger Acts of Kindness
We are proud to have left a lasting legacy with Rocky Mt. Village. Throughout 2016 & 2017, the CampExperience™ Network completed renovations of 7 cabins, including design, new soft goods, furniture, photography, inspirational artwork, and a new communications center. We accomplished this with donations valued at $13,780 cash and $20,000 in in-kind support.
A Special thanks to our camp sister Susan Frew, President of Sunshine Plumbing, Heating, Air, who led the donation of plumbing equipment and supplies on behalf of the Plumbing Heating Cooling Contractors Association. Along with her company, contributions came from Total Plumbing, and Colorado PHCC in conjunction with Ferguson Enterprises, HALO, and Sister Cheryl Rouget from Sure Comfort.
In 2017 our Camp Network helped launch the St. Anthony North Health Campus Community Garden with a $5,000 cash donation to the St Anthony Health Foundation. Our ‘Be A Blessing’ project teamed up sister volunteers with a Daisy Scout Troop and artists from Denver to create and sell decorated flower pots. All proceeds went to the community garden.
The mission for the garden is to create a sustainable place where community members, patients, and associates may congregate in a holistic, healing environment to locally grow and harvest nutritious foods. It will help to foster whole-person care by promoting wellness-based partnerships to help our community flourish.
The goal of 1,000 Acts of Peace was to bring the camp ‘Do Good’ spirit to action on a large scale in our new location of Colorado Springs, Colorado. A town like many others that sees far too many members of its population experiencing homelessness. We partnered with five local charities to help distribute 1,000 bags filled with needed items that will help those living on the streets.
Co-Chairs Betsy Wiersma & Kathleen Osgood organized the donations of over 20,000 items ranging from soap, condoms & tampons, to first aid supplies. Throughout the year, they procured close to $26,000 in cash and in-kind donations to go towards stuffing the bags.
On Friday, September 20, 2019, 130+ women stuffed the 1,000 bags. Together, we took them to City Hall in Colorado Springs, where we delivered them to the respective charities and Mayor John Suthers.
The five charities we partnered with were Homeward Pikes Peak, Pikes Peak United Way, Westside Cares, Partners in Housing, Springs Rescue Mission, and Urban Peak.
Camp Wapiyapi
Fostering fun & friendship, to help heal outside of the hospital.
Started by the University of Colorado medical students in 1998, Camp Wapiyapi is for children facing pediatric cancer. It is a special place where “kids get to just be kids again” at no cost to their families.
Patients and siblings are invited to camp to recapture the delight and spontaneity of being childlike, something that cancer has stolen from them.
CampExperience™ has built a strong connection with Camp Wapiyapi and strives to raise money and support them in creative and unique ways. In the Spring of 2019, we visited Sydney, Australia. We turned climbing the Sydney Harbor Bridge into a fundraising effort, and people could sponsor each step taken. In total, we raised $3,500 for Camp Wapiyapi.
Education Elevated
The mission of Education Elevated is to support and promote education and to eliminate economic barriers in primary and secondary schools for in-need communities throughout the world. Education Elevated achieves this through hiking and climbing teams who raise funds to support every foot of elevation they climb.
Fundraising efforts on behalf of CampExperience™ have sponsored nine girls attending the Girls Hostel in the Chyanba Village, and over $5,600 have been raised to support Chyangba Village School and further the education of all children in the village.
Peace Jam
The PeaceJam Foundation is an international organization whose mission statement is "to create young leaders committed to positive change in themselves, their communities, and the world through the inspiration of Nobel Peace Laureates who pass on the spirit, skills, and wisdom they embody."
The PeaceJam program was launched in February 1996 by co-founders Dawn Engle and Ivan Suvanjieff to provide the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates with a programmatic vehicle to use in working together to teach youth the art of peace. This foundation supports young people working for change through peaceful acts, giving them a platform by which they can be heard.
In the spring of 2019, Betsy participated in an annual event that was held in Denver and was able to meet and interview Nobel Laureate Rigoberta Menchu Tum.
Threads Worldwide
Threads Worldwide sources jewelry from women around the world, bringing their artisanal skills to an abundant marketplace here in the US. CampExperience™ has sourced their jewelry as gifts and showcases them to help spread the word.
Each piece of Threads jewelry tells a unique story of the woman who made it. The artisan cooperatives they partner with employ women who have BIG dreams – yet little opportunity. Through dignified work in a nourishing environment, women pull themselves out of poverty and reinvest into a future that we can all get excited about.
Currently, they are working with women in Indonesia, Kenya, Vietnam, Bolivia, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, India, & Uganda.
Imani Collective
"Imani Collective is a community of dreamers and shakers who aren't afraid to ask, 'why not?' Passionately pursuing a holistic approach to empowerment, we believe that once we realize what we're made of, we can own what we're made for. Convinced that we aren't just better together — we're our best together."
It started with sixteen women looking for a better way to provide for their families. Sixteen women who believed they were worth more than the saturated fruit selling street markets. Sixteen women intrigued enough by Jenny Nuccio's vision to stick by her side and grow together.
The Imani Collective now employs over fifty Kenyan men and women in Mtepeni Village and Mombasa, along with half a dozen women stateside.
The goods made by the women and men of Imani are often given out as gifts and featured at our Fall Retreats. In 2018 & 2019, we were able to help support Jenny and her team through monetary donations. Plus, there have been many more sisters who have made donations and offered support throughout the years.
Siteaw, Inc.
We are all humanitarian workers from different backgrounds and different walks of life, living in different parts of the world. We work together because we have a common goal to make a difference in the lives of girls and women whose stories we have listened to over the years. Most of the girls and women we work with have been, or are currently, oppressed by outdated traditions in their tribes/ethnic groups. Some are circumcised and married off at a tender age; others have been raped, trafficked, or sold in slavery.
After a long time of fieldwork experience, we learned that education is the best tool we can use. Empowering girls and women with knowledge and skills turns them into strong human beings who carry the torch for themselves and those coming up after them.
Education is a treasure that cannot be stolen from them.
Over the years, CampExperience™ has been able to help support over 30 girls in their continued education and has provided the grand prizes for Siteaw's Annual Baskets Races.
