Future Of Youth Hunting Camp At Risk After Fire!

The future of youth hunting lays in your hands! Help us save our youth summer camps after a devastating fire!

In February, a devastating fire destroyed one of the West Coast’s foremost summer camps for youth, putting the education, empowerment, and gun safety programs for hundreds of boys and girls at risk. We need your help to cover the cost of mobile bunk, bathroom, shower, kitchen, and lighting trailers plus the generators to power them so that we can house over 250+ students for the Summer 2024 & 2025 camps while the Riley family rebuilds the storied Red Bank Ranch lodge. With your help, we can make sure that our students, many from low-income households or facing physical, developmental or behavioral health challenges, can continue to benefit from the lessons and confidence gleaned in the great outdoors.

For 26 years, Red Bank Outfitter’s iconic lodge, under the ownership of the Riley family, has been the home to the West Coast’s premier hunting and conservation-based summer camps, currently operating as Red Bank Outdoor Academy . Unfortunately, all that changed in the blink of an eye on Saturday, February 24, 2024, when Red Bank Outfitter’s lodge – home to our campers’ bunkhouse and kitchen facilities – was lost in a devastating early-morning fire that razed the historic structure to the ground.

As news of the fire spread, the Academy’s board of directors held an emergency meeting to discuss the impact of the loss of the lodge on our program and whether to continue with our summer camps as usual. Based on recent conversations with the Ranch’s contractors, it will take 12-to-24 months to rebuild the lodge and restore suitable sleeping and dining facilities for students and staff. To minimize the impact on the thousands of families who have relied on us for outdoor education programs since 1998, our board unanimously voted to proceed with all planned summer camps this year and next.

With less than four months until our 2024 season begins, we are now facing the daunting task of ensuring that we have adequate housing, dining and bathroom facilities for more than 250 boys and girls ages 9-15. To ensure that our students can continue to earn their hunter education certificate and learn firearm safety, archery, fishing, wildlife conservation, game tracking/processing, outdoor survival and other skills, we are seeking outside support.

Our goal is to raise $200,000.00 by June 1, 2024, to fund the following equipment rentals for the Academy’s 2024 and 2025 summer programs:

• Four (4) air-conditioned mobile bunkhouse trailers

• One (1) air-conditioned mobile bathroom & shower combo trailer

• One (1) air-conditioned mobile laundry trailer.

• One (1) mobile cookhouse trailer to provide three meals a day for up to 60 students and 20 staff

• Two (2) commercial grade tent awnings to provide shaded dining and recreational areas

• Three (3) portable generators to power the mobile units 24/7 during camps

• Three (3) portable lighting trailers to ensure adequate lighting for after-dark activities and the safety of all students and staff

Any funds raised in excess of our goal will go toward the Academy’s scholarship fund, which provides low- to no-cost tuition for more than 60% of our students, many of whom come from financially underserved backgrounds or have physical, developmental or behavioral health challenges.

Please help ensure our high-quality outdoor education and conservation programs continue to educate and inspire the safest, most ethical and knowledgeable next generation of hunters, shooters, and outdoor enthusiasts.

Thank you for your support!

Red Bank Outdoor Academy is a tax-exempt 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. Tax I.D. #86-2104562.