Written by Howard Menaker; compiled by the CAMP Rehoboth Long Range Planning Committee
In 2005, CAMP Rehoboth set out to update our Strategic Plan. We gathered dozens of supporters, friends, and neighbors to help us lay out a plan that reflected our values and our vision, and to set specific goals and strategies for the following five years. We owe an enormous debt of gratitude to the great people who created this plan, and appreciate all they did to guide us through these years.
As we ended 2010, the Board of Directors of CAMP Rehoboth decided it was time to look back and measure our success against the plan written in 2005. We began the process of reviewing the plan, and taking a hard look at where we have been, what we have accomplished, and how we have grown over those five years. Did we do what we set out to do? Did we accomplish our goals?
Thanks to you, the members and supporters of CAMP Rehoboth, the answer is a resounding “YES”! Even through the difficult financial times of the past few years, we have made amazing progress, and have served our community in ways we could have never envisioned 21 years ago when CAMP Rehoboth was created.
Since you are the people that have made this possible through your financial support, countless volunteer hours given to CAMP Rehoboth, and your participation in our programs, we wanted to report to you and assess how we performed against the five year plan of 2005. We welcome your comment, and your involvement as we develop our plan for the next five years.
In 2005, we chose to develop our strategic plan around four key areas:
• Health and Wellness
• Networking and Information Resources
• Support, Education and Outreach Programs and
• Fundraising
Also included is our:
• Conclusion
• Letters from CAMP Rehoboth Sidebar
HEALTH AND WELLNESS 2005-2010
In the area of Health and Wellness, we first set out to enhance existing communications methods and develop new ones to educate the community about the health programs of CAMP Rehoboth.
• The last five years have seen a marked increase in our communications, as methods like Facebook, our website, and Constant Contact email blasts have enabled us to reach out to many more people than ever before. We placed ads telling of our health and wellness services on the screens of the Midway Theaters, and in the Cape Gazette. Of course, Letters from CAMP Rehoboth continues to carry timely and important information about all our programs.
• Since 2005, we have enhanced and expanded the CAMPsafe program by adding increased HIV testing opportunities, and increasing our condom distribution program. We have added a greater number of distribution locations and given out a greater number of condoms.
• We monitor chat rooms to offer safe sex messages in ways that reach an audience we might otherwise miss.
In order to create programs that meet unfilled needs of our community:
• CAMP Rehoboth, in partnership with Beebe Medical Center, now offers annual Health Days which provide free cholesterol, glucose, blood pressure, bone density, and body mass index testing.
• We have enhanced programs such as our men’s health group, and created new programs including Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, women’s groups, breast cancer awareness, couples counseling, and even Tai Chi and yoga.
• Our new and expanded Community Center has allowed us to bring more people and groups to the Center for health programs and activities. As a result, our flu shot program has expanded from 25 in 2005 to 158 in 2010, and we have seen similar growth in HIV testing from125 to 380. All in all, we are proud that our health programs, which reached 1,762 people in 2005, reached a new high of 4,692 in 2010.
Having set the goal of developing enhanced relationships with other health and wellness providers:
• We have expanded our partnerships with AIDS Delaware, the Delaware HIV Consortium, Meals on Wheels, the YMCA, and the Sussex County AIDS Council (2005-2009); and added new programs with the Delaware Breast Cancer Coalition, Delaware Hospice, Seashore Striders, the Wellness Community, West Side New Beginnings, and others.
NETWORKING AND INFORMATION RESOURCES 2005-2010
Five years ago, we set a high goal for ourselves: to become identified as the primary point of contact for information, networking and referral services for the LGBT community, and the community at large.
CAMP Rehoboth is proud that we have indeed become a valuable resource for those seeking information on how to get involved, what to do in Rehoboth Beach, who to talk to about LGBT concerns, and for many other reasons.
• Online, the resources of Constant Contact keep our members informed of upcoming events and programs, and our website and Facebook pages are active every day, and are included on LGBT list serves such as DEGLC, and Gay Rehoboth, allowing us to reach globally to visitors coming to Rehoboth Beach.
• With the building of the Community Center, we established the kiosk in the CAMP Courtyard, added information boards and enhanced our welcome operation in the office. The Tony Burns library of photos of Rehoboth Beach LGBT life over several decades is an invaluable resource for locals and visitors alike.
• We established a Leadership Council of volunteers and expanded our committee structure to include program and communications committees, which works to be sure information about our activities gets out in a timely fashion.
• A five-minute Comcast Spotlight program highlighting CAMP Rehoboth was shown for several months on local cable channels.
The list of organizations with whom we share programming is extensive, and has grown with each year. Many of these organizations also distribute information about CAMP Rehoboth programs, and we refer inquiries to them in-kind.
Some of our partners include:
• Rehoboth Beach Main Street, Inc.
• The Rehoboth Beach-Dewey Beach Chamber of Commerce
• The Rehoboth Beach Library
• Habitat for Humanity
• Programs with Metropolitan Community Church of Rehoboth
• The Women’s Center
• West Side New Beginnings
• World AIDS Day
• CAMP Rehoboth Chorus
• Local religious organizations
All of these communication vehicles build on the foundation on which CAMP Rehoboth began: Letters from CAMP Rehoboth. It continues to be our most valuable communications resource. See the sidebar (page 46) on the growth and breadth of Letters from CAMP Rehoboth for more details about just how far-reaching it has become in the last five years.
SUPPORT, EDUCATION AND OUTREACH 2005-2010
History has been made in Delaware in the past five years, and CAMP Rehoboth was a part of it.
Our goal of continuing to build a safe and inclusive community through voter information, education, and advocacy is best illustrated by the historic non-discrimination law passed in Delaware in 2009 and signed by the Governor at the CAMP Rehoboth Community Center, and by the 2011 passage of the law legalizing civil unions for same-sex couples (SB 30). In both cases, members and volunteers of CAMP Rehoboth were key players in passing these laws.
Political outreach and education efforts are only a small part of our work. While focusing on the LGBT community, we have joined with other civic organizations to educate and reach out to the wider Southern Delaware community in order to make this a safer and more welcoming place to live, work and visit. Since the inception of CAMP Rehoboth, we have been called upon to assist when homophobic threats or discrimination have occurred.
• We have responded to requests from individuals and organizations, including the Rehoboth Beach Police Department, health care providers, and schools to provide sensitivity training.
• CAMP Rehoboth Executive Director Steve Elkins serves on the Delaware Human Rights Commission, and the Board of Directors of Equality Delaware, and is a clear voice for the LGBT community.
• Alliances with organizations as diverse as Safe Haven, the Henlopen Food Basket, the Rehoboth Beach Historical Museum, the Sunrise Rotary Club, the Cape Henlopen School District, and the Rehoboth Beach Boys and Girls Club have placed CAMP Rehoboth at the center of public life here—indeed, we have become “the heart of the community.”
FUNDRAISING 2005-2010
Like every nonprofit organization, CAMP Rehoboth needs a continuing stream of funding to accomplish all we do.
We set out five years ago to enhance the funding necessary to support the goals of CAMP Rehoboth, support the growth of the Community Center, and to serve the needs of the community by raising money for ourselves and other organizations. We currently operate on an annual budget of over $1 million, and have building assets of approximately $4.6 million.
There will never be a finish line in raising money as long as we offer our programs, and the generosity of our members and supporters allows us to continue those programs throughout the year. We can never say “Thank You” enough for what you enable us to do. THANK YOU!
In the past five years:
• We concluded the Founders Circle program and other capital campaigns, which brought us over $1.3 million to help build and furnish the new Community Center.
• We created the CAMP Rehoboth annual membership program, our single most important source of revenue throughout the year, which provides the ongoing revenue to maintain our programs day in and day out.
• In addition, we created the Wish List, the business partnership program, and summer sponsorship programs, we sell CAMP Rehoboth merchandise on our website, and continue to sell advertising in Letters from CAMP Rehoboth.
• In the tough economic times of the past five years, CAMP Rehoboth has not only raised its own operating and capital funds, but continued to partner with many local organizations to help raise the money they need to continue to provide important services to the community. Our CAMP Rehoboth Golf Tournament, Women’s FEST, Sundance, Starburst Gayla, and other events have raised thousands of dollars for great causes such as AIDS Delaware, Meals on Wheels, West Side New Beginnings, Metropolitan Community Church, WomenHeart, and many others.
CONCLUSION
Five years ago we set out some ambitious goals. We said then that CAMP Rehoboth was the only community service organization of its kind in Delaware, and thus we needed to survive and prosper to serve our community well. We committed ourselves to follow a plan that would “enable CAMP Rehoboth to achieve its mission to promote community well-being on all levels; to foster the development of community groups; to develop community space; to promote human and civil rights; to work against prejudice and discrimination; to lessen tensions among the community at large; and to help foster the economic growth of the area.”
You be the judge.
Now, as we embark on a new five year plan, we will turn to you again: to ask your participation, to encourage a free and open exchange of ideas and to help us do the hard work of self-examination. In the coming months we will reach out to the community to draft a new long-range plan for 2011-2016.
We could not have accomplished any of these things without your help and your active involvement. On behalf of the Board of Directors of CAMP Rehoboth, and all of the people we serve in this community, THANK YOU with all of our hearts.
The Long Range Planning Committee: Murray Archibald, Chris Beagle, Beth Cohen, Steve Elkins, Howard Menaker, Natalie Moss, Glen Pruitt, Laura Simon, Rose Schmidt
LETTERS FROM CAMP REHOBOTH 2005-2010
Compiled by Laura Simon
Letters from CAMP Rehoboth has always been the signature publication of CAMP Rehoboth. Over the years, it has grown in ways none of us could have imagined when it began 21 years ago. As a part of our review of the past five years, we looked at all of the issues over that time period. The 15 issues a year and 2,481 articles provided an amazing look at where we have been, and what we have accomplished.
We have published articles by local and nationally-known authors on a wide variety of topics, including:
• national, state, and local politics;
• aspects of local gay life;
• the history of the gay movement;
• Rehoboth Beach history;
• health and fitness issues.
By count:
• 43% of all articles were news or information articles;
• 26% of all articles were in the category of opinion, reviews or advice;
• Health and fitness was the subject of 6% of the articles;
• 25% of the articles led us to, or covered, entertainment activities.
The articles, over the past five years, reflected a balance between articles pertaining directly to the LGBT readers and the general audience. 59% of all articles were judged to be of interest to all members of the community. The majority of our authors and contributors are local, or have ties to the community. While the majority of our authors are LGBT, our contributors have always represented both the LGBT and non-LGBT community.
And finally, Letters from CAMP Rehoboth would not be possible without the continuing support of our advertisers. They represented LGBT and non-LGBT-owned businesses, including restaurants, professional services, local community activities, and welcoming religious denominations.
In summary, review of issues of Letters from CAMP Rehoboth from 2005 to 2010 showed that just as Rehoboth is a place for all, Letters from CAMP Rehoboth is a publication for all members of the Rehoboth Beach community.