Campsite - Oakland Feather River Camp

We are so excited to share our new Family Camp promo video! Like and share this post to give your friends and family an idea of what OFRC Family Camp is all about!

#TBT to the last day of 2019 OFRC Youth Camp. Lots of tent groups often want one last view of Spanish Ridge and The Creek from the Veranda deck before jumping on the bus down to Oakland. We can’t blame them! #Oakland #FeatherRiverCamp #OFRC #OFRCYouthCamp #PNF #PlumasNationalForest

GOOD NEWS FRIDAY: We are so excited to share our Oaklandish x Feather River t-shirts! Proceeds from sales of this design will support a safe Summer 2021 reopening and will ensure that OFRC can continue to ensure meaningful and memorable summer mountain experiences are accessible to every Oaklander regardless of their financial position. Check out the awesome designs at the link below. THANK YOU OAKLANDISH! https://www.oaklandish.com//news/oakland-feather-river-camp

Our nonprofit mission is to promote and celebrate connections between nature, family and community, creating unique opportunities to advance environmental awareness, cultural diversity, and youth empowerment. From the school board to the presidency, this election (as with every election) provides several opportunities to make our community, state, and country a bit more like camp. Today, we encourage everyone in our camp community to vote safely and responsibly if you haven't yet done so.

OAKLAND CAMPERS AND SUPPORTERS: OPW's survey closes TODAY. The Oakland Public Works Department has created a super simple, 4 question survey asking Oakland residents to provide input on facility or property improvements as they begin to develop their 2021-2023 Capital Improvement Plan. This is an easy way to ensure that OFRC is included in the CIP development process. If you are an Oakland resident, please click the link to fill out the short survey. For the question that asks, "Which buildings or physical structures in your community need improvement?" please mention that Feather River Camp has significant capital needs and is worthy of investment. Thank you! https://oaklandca.formstack.com/for/cip_public_request_form

Congrats to Yadira, longtime patron of the Brookfield Branch of Oakland Public Library in East Oakland, for winning the GRAND PRIZE for this summer's Kids Reading Program! We look forward to seeing your family up at Family Camp next summer! We are proud to support this great program that empowers youth, encourages reading, and fights summer learning loss!

One of the things we hear most from our campers of all ages is that when they are at OFRC, they feel disconnected from the busyness of their typical day-to-day lives and that being immersed in the beautiful mountain setting allows them to de-stress and downshift. There's no doubt about it: These are stressful times. And without the opportunity to visit OFRC, we all need to find additional ways to manage those stresses. So here is some good news: It ONLY takes 20 minutes in a natural setting (a park, field, vista, or shoreline - even a backyard!) to reduce stress hormones. More info here: https://www.health.harvard.edu//a-20-minute-nature-break-r

Thank you to those of you who have reached out about the wildfires that have flared up in Plumas County. While there is a fire to the south of downtown Quincy and one on the northern side of Mt. Hough, OFRC is NOT under immediate threat or danger. The air is smokey and there is some falling ash, but otherwise the site is safe! Thanks to all of the emergency personnel and first responders in Plumas and Alameda County, as well all across the state who are working hard to keep our communities safe.

Karen LeGault is an Oakland artist and the wonderful long-time director of Feather River Art Camp, one of our program partners we host at camp each summer. She is offering painting and drawing classes this Fall. She also has a FREE ten week drawing class for beginners. This free course is also available for young adults, teens, and tweens! More information can be found at the link below.

Did you know that OFRC went from serving roughly 1,500 campers in 2017 to serving over 2,700 in 2019? We also increased the amount of camp scholarship dollars provided from $44,000 to over $71,000! Before COVID hit, we were in a period of tremendous growth and development and once we weather this crisis, we expect to continue that trend. To assist in reemerging from this challenging time in the strongest position possible and to provide the support our organizational needs, we are seeking applicants for a new batch of volunteers to serve on our Board of Directors or on our volunteer committees. For more information, click here: http://www.featherrivercamp.com/volunteer

FROM THE ARCHIVES: We've shared before that the only years that OFRC did not run programming prior to this summer was during World War 2. And thanks the archival skills of long-time Summer Food Service Manager Steven "Chef" Karoly, we now have more detail on what took place! According to this May 1944 newspaper article, the Oakland Parks, Recreation & Youth Development Department rented the facility for use by the Oakland Girl Scouts (Girl Scouts of Northern California) ! Thanks for finding this piece of history, Chef!

Missing the view from Spanish Ridge or Mt. Hough? Check out this list of local hikes with expansive views. Hiking is a wonderful activity that gets the family outside, talking, and exploring the local outdoors together!

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: We just sent out an e-blast to our mailing list with lots of Oakland Feather River Camp updates! Lot's of camp news here. Check it out: https://mailchi.mp/featherriv/covid-19email3-july2020update

Parents of younger campers and children, check out this opportunity to continue the important conversation about racism with Sesame Street tomorrow. Thanks to Children’s Fairyland for sharing originally!