Camp Agape Seeking ‘Angels’ for Summer Camp

BY MELANIE BUCK –

Polk County resident, Beau Stricklin, has a mission and would like your help. Stricklin, a former Army man that had been stationed in Hawaii, became involved with a program called Camp Agape, mentored there for three years, and has brought the idea back to Arkansas. Stricklin’s mission is to gather up as many “Angels” as he can for the four-day camp coming up in August.

Camp Agape was created in Hawaii by Pastor Roy Yamimota. Pastor Yamimota was a former inmate himself and created an Angel Tree that was designed to give birthday and Christmas gifts to children of the incarcerated. When Pastor Yamimota got out of prison, his children remembered and were thankful for the gifts they received while their father was incarcerated. He eventually went to work for a prison ministry and, wanting to do more, he created Camp Agape.

The camp first started in 2005 and stems from a mission to share God’s love with children whose parents are incarcerated. “Agape” love is always the theme at the camp, as volunteers and junior mentors strive to demonstrate the love of Christ to the camp attendees. Camp Agape is an annual, four-day event filled with activities and events that facilitate the sharing of the Gospel of Jesus Christ through love, trust, forgiveness and hope. Beginning in Hawaii, Camp Agape has now extended their reach, having three camps in Hawaii, one in Oregon, and another in Arkansas.

As their website states, “In the United States currently, there are more than 800,000 incarcerated parents that have more than 1,800,000 children who are minors. In Hawaii, the child of an incarcerated parent is 50 percent more likely to be incarcerated as well. These statistics continue to increase and the role of Camp Agape is to reach these children and their parents – to see whole families transformed by God’s unconditional love.”

“They say these children are on the ‘pipeline to prison’ because the future incarcerated are the children of the incarcerated now, and the people who are incarcerated now are the children whose parents were incarcerated before them,” explained Strickland.

Strickland also explained that these kids go to the camp because it’s a camp, but it’s really a yearlong process. The process continues long after they go home. You get a church to partner with them and they are checked up on throughout the year. The following year, the campers that have taken the necessary steps throughout the year can come back as junior mentors. “That’s where you start seeing the dividends pay off, when you see things like children who’ve grown up living in a car with their parents who are doing drugs and prostitution in the same car that you live in. Instead of those children growing up to inherit the same lifestyle, they are now going out and getting ministry and other degrees and becoming successful in life.”

Stricklin is such a believer in the camp that he has become the Polk County sponsor for the Angel Tree. “We’re looking for about 50 kids in Polk County, but there’s only thirteen whose parents have signed them up for the Angel Tree,” said Stricklin. “This is a full circle ministry. When we contact the kids, we tell them that it’s a gift from their parent. It’s a chance for the incarcerated to give back. When the incarcerated see their kids come into the prison with their Camp Agape shirts on, it lights a fire in the incarcerated, it’s full circle.”

Although the normal way to sign children up is through the incarcerated parent, the path has proven difficult in its first year in the area and they are now seeking ways to gain extra campers. “This is the first year in Polk County. In the future, we’ll go with the Chaplain into the prison and take the forms, but we’ve had trouble getting clearance this year,” said Stricklin. If there is a mother, father, or grandparent that is taking care of a child of the incarcerated, Stricklin encourages them to contact him or to fill out an application online.

Camp Agape takes ages 7-16, boy or girl. In Arkansas, the campers will attend Camp Caudle, near Russellville. Applications can be found on their website, www.campagapearkansas.com or find them on Facebook at Camp Agape Arkansas. You can also find volunteer applications as well, and there are options for churches to become sponsors. Stricklin said that he is currently partnering with Victor Rowell at The Crossing in Mena and with First Baptist Church in Hatfield, but will welcome more sponsors.

The application cutoff is June 30, and the camp will be held at Camp Caudle from August 6-9. Stricklin explained that a bus will transport the campers from Polk County to the camp and back. “All parents need to do is register them, pack their clothes and bathing suits, and drop them off when it’s time. We will be providing all the personal hygiene, linens, backpacks, water bottles, etc.,” Stricklin said. You can contact Beau Stricklin by email at beau.stricklin@gmail.com.

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Jeri Pearson

Jeri is the News Director for Pulse Multi-Media and Editor of The Polk County Pulse. She has 10 years of experience in community focused journalism and has won multiple press association awards.

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