It has been another fantastic year for Camp Kudzu!
A special time of year


It has been another fantastic year for Camp Kudzu! The excitement continues to build as we prepare for the new year and also celebrate 20 amazing years in 2019. The Kudzu Staff Team are busy finalizing details for a couple of special projects and surprises! All of this in the “Nick” of time to celebrate the magic of the holidays as we contemplate our future and retool our strategic plan and priorities. 

If you're looking to make a difference one more time before the end of the year, please consider contributing to our Fund-A-Camper program. We are fortunate enough to have a generous donor who has offered to match contributions up to $10,000 through December 31st , so your donation can go twice as far to help those who want to participate and be a part of our Kudzu Family. Click here to double your impact!

To learn more, you can visit our NEW Camp Kudzu Website that is under production and about to be unwrapped in time for the new year! How about that?! Please provide comments as we finalize testing and add the finishing touches! We would love to hear from you.

Happy Holidays to you and yours, and I look forward to seeing you in the New Year.

-Rob Shaw
Executive Director
robert.shaw@campkudzu.org
2019 Volunteer Staff Applications are OPEN!
Click below to check out our NEW Camp Kudzu website, follow the “Volunteers Apply Now” link, and complete your application for any of our 2019 programs! Keep in mind that if you are attending the Volunteer Appreciation Holiday Party, there will be incentives for those who have already gotten their applications in! If you have any questions about volunteering at camp programs, contact Anna Rambo at arambo@campkudzu.org . We can’t wait to see you next year!

GET STARTED
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What we do the rest of the year
By Kat  Shreve
I am often asked, “Now that camp is over, what do you do the rest of the year?”

Fortunately, there’s some predictability and routine in what we do each day. If not, the learning curve would be never ending. The Camp Kudzu Office is buzzing away with the preparations for this year’s events and summer camp season.

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Healthy holiday treats
By Anna Albritton, MS, RD, LD, CDE
The holiday season is full of tempting treats that may not be so friendly on blood sugars. Foods that are laden with fat and carbohydrates that can send blood sugars on a rollercoaster ride for the rest of the day and into the night. As a result, “beep, BEEP,” the sound of your CGM is constantly keeping you awake—all too familiar?

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Camp Kudzu – Southeast GA update
Can you hear that? No, it’s not Santa’s reindeer and sleigh coming in at mach speed, it’s the new BUZZ taking place in Southeast Georgia!

Progress is quickly shaping up and conversations are taking place with the Children’s Wellness Coordinator at Children’s Hospital of Savannah, diabetes educators of Every Day Diabetes Center, and new community partners like the Coastal Heritage Society to bring you year-round programming with the spirit of summer camp in what we are calling Camp Kudzu Southeast!

CAMP KUDZU SOUTHEAST
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Meghan's story
In March of 2001, at the age of 10, I sat terrified in a hospital room at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta after being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. I still remember the fear and anxiety that surrounded my every thought during that hospital stay. The next few months consisted of me regularly hiding out in the pantry so my parents couldn’t give me shots or check my blood sugar. I cried all the time and could not understand why something so huge had happened to me and not to my sisters or any other child I know. I had two distant cousins who had type 1 diabetes, but they were significantly older than me so I did not talk to them about what I was feeling. Then a miracle happened: my endocrinologist told my parents about Camp Kudzu, a camp that had begun just the year before that was for children with type 1 diabetes.

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End-of-year giving opportunity
With your help, Camp Kudzu was able to make an impact in the lives of 850 children and teens with T1D. Included in that number, 200 campers joined our community for the first time and fifty percent of them received scholarships thanks to supporters like you.

Whether you’re a volunteer, parent, or camper family, we need you now more than ever. Camp Kudzu cannot continue to help children and teens with T1D without supporters like you. During this holiday season and as you consider your end of the year contributions, we hope that you will consider making a gift to Camp Kudzu of $100, $250, $500, or $1,000 to support children and teens with T1D.

YOU can help make double the impact! We have a donor that will match dollar for dollar up to $10,000 for donations made to Camp Kudzu by December 31st! Thank you again for your support of and commitment to Camp Kudzu. “Until there’s a cure, there’s camp!”

P.S. Every gift, regardless of size, makes a difference!

GIVE NOW
"Love Is" painting raises $1,500 for Fund-A-Camper
A picture is worth a thousand words, so all we will say is that this work of art was created by 2018 campers and raised $1,500 for Fund-A-Camper at the Annual Luncheon auction. Great job, campers!

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Catch a ride to Teen Retreat
For many of our campers, few things match the sheer joy of the trip to camp. The anticipation of seeing old friends again, practicing camp songs to make sure you're not rusty, getting excited as you turn in the gate...the fun of the trip to camp is often only surpassed by camp itself!

For parents, however, sometimes the logistics of actually getting to camp can present a burden: vehicle troubles, work schedules, and the cost of gas are just a few factors that may make the trek to our camp location difficult.

That's why we are excited to announce that we will be offering transportation to our Teen Retreat from the Kudzu office! While we won't technically have a "party bus," it will certainly feel  like one as our bus transports excited campers from our office in Sandy Springs to Camp Twin Lakes in Rutledge, GA.

If you indicated interest in this no-cost transportation option in your Teen Retreat application, we will be in touch with details soon. If you didn't indicate interest and you feel you may want to take advantage of this option, email Whitney Gillis LeHew at wlehew@campkudzu.org .

EMAIL WHITNEY
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Check out our NEW website!
You spoke, and we heard you!

We are thrilled for our soft launch of our new website today. The revamp features easier navigation for both desktop and mobile versions, clear focus on different core audiences (camper families, volunteers, and donors), and exciting pictures and videos to drive the mission of our organization home. Visit www.campkudzu.org to check it out—almost a year in the making, we can’t wait to share it with you!
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Celebrate 20 years of Camp Kudzu!
Attention all Camp Kudzu Alumni, Camper Families, and Volunteers: if you are you are interested in helping us start to plan events as we prepare to celebrate 20 years at Camp Kudzu, please contact Jessica Martinez at jmartinez@campkudzu.org  or 404-495-4853. 

EMAIL JESSICA
2018 Kudzu Partners
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