Camp Aldersgate

Thanks to Little Rock’s Camp Aldersgate, children with medical conditions or developmental delays have had a fun and friendly escape for nearly 60 years.

The camp was formed in 1947 as a place where people of all races and backgrounds could meet to work on community-based projects. But over the years, new social service programs have been added, resulting in the hosting of more than 850 children a year in its summer medical camps and weekend Respite Care programs.

Working with annual revenue that hovers between $1 million and $1.5 million — and occasional large gifts — the organization has been able to update older facilities and even break ground on new projects, including a new environmentally friendly commons building that now serves as the camp’s centerpiece.

Hidden in the woods in the heart of Little Rock, Camp Aldersgate encompasses 120 acres of hardwood forests, creeks and wheelchair-accessible trails.

A member of the Camp Aldersgate board of directors, Little Rock allergist Dr. Kelsey Caplinger, helped organize the first specialized Med Camp in 1971. It’s designed to give kids who are challenged by medical conditions a time and place to grow as individuals and to increase their self-esteem.

“It started out as a very small project and we didn’t get many kids the first year or so,” Caplinger said. “But it has grown every year since and has gotten better and better over time. The camps really fill a void for the kids who come.”

In fact, the project has grown from its initial 12 campers in 1971 to nearly 400 last summer, thanks to the creation along the way of programs that benefit children with everything from muscular dystrophy and spina bifida to diabetes and cancer. Impressively, the year-round camp has one of the largest youth volunteer training programs in the Midsouth, with approximately 400 volunteers that amassed 20,000 total volunteer hours last summer alone.

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