Friend Camp of Northwest Arkansas
Northwest Arkansas Friend Camp is a summer camp for rising 2nd-6th graders. Camp fosters friendships between children of different religions, while also honoring and teaching about those faith traditions. There is a strong emphasis on inter-cultural peacemaking.
Dates: July 29 - August 1, 2024
Location: First Christian Church & WaterWay
Hours: 9:00 am to 12:00 pm daily, with a closing ceremony at 12:00 pm on August 1
Cost: $40 per camper (scholarships available)
2023 Inaugural Year
This years theme was: Make Some Noise!!
We here at the Interfaith Center of Arkansas were thrilled to expand our “:Friendship Camp” to Northwest Arkansas this summer. We have named it “NWA Friend Camp”. This took place at first Christian Church of Bentonville, AR. We are so grateful for the vision and hard work that brought this camp together! Our first camp director was Liz Emis, who work at First Christian Church. She was a complete rock star! 62 children representing a wide variety of faith background participated in the camp. These kids represented Buddhism, Baha’i, Hinduism, Cherokee, Christianity, Islam, Judaism and explorers (seeker or no set faith tradition). We also had 50 wonderful volunteers that represented 8 different faith backgrounds. For this 3 day morning camp, the children all came together to learn about each other and our shared values.
Through several projects the participants served others through out the Northwest Arkansas area. The kids experienced Taiko (a Japanese Buddhist drum line that has been a tradition for centuries), Hindu traditional dance performed by children of their same age, Cherokee traditions taught by member of a tribe out of Oklahoma, writing their name is Arabic, field trip to a Native American Museum and a wonderful visit to Jewish congregation and so much more.
Look for us next summer as we explore a different theme. We look for to your participation!!
