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Myron Rolle Camp

June 18th, 2009 by Mike Vasilinda

100 Foster kids, many who’ve never been part of a family or gone to camp, are spending the week learning leadership skills at the state’s National Guard Training Facility at Camp Blanding. And as Mike Vasilinda tells us, the goal is to give these kids hope for the future.

It is a week these foster kids may never forget.

“Yeah [I want to do it again]. It was awesome,” Treyvon from Tampa said.

There is rock climbing and a ropes course.

At every step: encouragement

“Yeah, I’m proud of myself,” Olivia from St. Petersburg said.

The toughest test? Repelling down a 50-foot wall.

If that doesn’t give you confidence, nothing will.

The camp idea is the brain child of Children and Families Secretary George Sheldon.

“The fact that the kids can do this, really shows how you can overcome your fear,” DCF Secretary George Sheldon said.

and Football star and scholar Myron Rolle.

“Regardless of if you don’t have a stable family, regardless of people pointing a finger at you and saying you can’t do it, that you’re not supposed to do it, that you’re going to be a statistic, that, you know, 90 percent of foster kids don’t make it, look that in the eye, push it aside, and continue to move forward,” Rolle said. “That’s what I’m hoping to instill.”

Myron’s message and the example he’s setting seems to be getting through to kids like James from West Palm Beach.

“It seems like he hasn’t had the perfect life either, so I could see how I could do the same things as him,” James from West Palm Beach said.

In the end, some of these kids may still end up a statistic, but for others, they may just learn the leadership tools to be different.

The $150,000 cost of the camp was covered by donations to the Myron Rolle Foundation and corporate contributions.

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