The River's Edge Retreat

Our mission is empowering children for greatness through amazing programs and enriching faith while providing essential support for families in the midlands. Our Vision is for every child, regardless of their present circumstance, to achieve a sense of well-being physically, emotionally, academically, and spiritually.

Game Changers at River's Edge Retreat provides life changing experiences to underserved youth in the Midlands. We accomplish this by providing them with enrichment programs, camps and educational opportunities. We have helped homeless families find housing, the parents find jobs to maintain housing for their family, and given children hope that being in a stable home can provide. We have seen troubled children who were the victims of bullying find new self-esteem by participating in the YFL and CIT programs. Now, many of our campers have graduated from high school and are enjoying being college students and working in the Midlands area giving back to the community.

The core program of our mission is an 9 week fun-filled summer camp for K5 through high school.
- Kid's Kingdom serves K5 through 6th grade.
- Young Future Leaders (YFL) serves 7th through 10 graders
- Counselors in Training (CIT) serves 11th through 12th graders.

Additionally, we partner with YMCA to offer an afterschool enrichment program to families in need of afterschool care. We pick up these kids, and offer them academic assistance, enrichment experiences, and snacks in order to help them reach their full potential.

We also offer a resource center stocked with necessities such as food, clothing, and toiletries to distribute to families in need. When families come through our resource center, we remain in contact to provide academic support to their children to ensure they have a brighter future.

Testimonials

Since River's Edge Retreat began in 2012, hundreds of children were given an opportunity, a second chance. Many of those children took advantage of that second chance and went on to beat the odds by graduating from high school and moving on to pursue a college degree.

LJ Fitzgerald was placed in a program at Richland School District 2 for disruptive and rebellious students. As a part of that program, LJ was enlisted as a counselor in training at River's Edge Retreat. After working with and learning from the very children he was counseling, LJ felt a change in his life. He returned as a counselor the following summer to share with children his story as an example of change and motivation. Thanks to the people who intervened in his life, LJ was the first male in his family to have graduated from high school. He plans to pursue a career in teaching that he hopes will allow him to give back what was given to him, a second chance.

Another was Johnathan B. He came to us as a young teen who lived in an area where gangs were constantly trying to recruit him for their purposes. His mother brought him to our program and he graduated high school, worked in our operations area of the camp (helping with maintenance and grounds) while being a Counselor in Training. He is now in the Welding program at Midlands Technical College doing well and expects to get a job as a certified welder at the end of his course instruction. He always says how much he appreciated the help, the love and the care he got at River's Edge Retreat. He returns every year to mentor the campers and maintain the facility so the kids can enjoy camp.

"Our sponsors are giving these kids an opportunity to come to a place where they can be loved on and seek guidance. The people who sponsor these children are giving them another view at life by letting them see things that they have never seen before. They are not just giving money; they are giving a second chance."
- Jessica Brown, former counselor at River's Edge Retreat