Project:Camp Provides Day-Camp Relief for Spokane Wildfire Survivors

In early August, wildfires swept through eastern Washington, forcing roughly 60,000 residents to evacuate and destroying an estimated 920 structures. Spokane public schools reported that 169 students and 38 staff members lost their homes, with an additional 20 students affected in the neighboring Nine Mile Falls district. Within a week, the district opened a high-school as a resource center and partnered with national nonprofits, local churches, and businesses to launch free day camps for any family impacted by the disaster.

The Guardian

The response follows the “education in emergencies” framework, originally developed for international humanitarian aid. Harvard Graduate School of Education researcher Sarah Dryden-Peterson describes the model as creating predictable routines so that disasters become more understandable for children. Project:Camp’s co-founder Mikey Latner notes that the camps aim to restore safety, normalcy, and routine—key tenets of the science on adverse childhood experiences (ACEs).

The Guardian

Project:Camp, which has run 33 post-disaster camps in 10 states since 2021, joined Spokane schools to staff two locations for three weeks. Volunteers organized children into age-based “cabins” and rotated them through sports, arts, and therapeutic activities such as therapy-dog visits and a gratitude circle. Local churches and organizations like the Red Cross and YMCA supplied cultural competence and personal relationships, while national groups contributed resources and expertise.

The Guardian

Mareesha Backman, who evacuated with her seven-year-old son Bennett—a medically fragile child with a feeding tube—described the camp as a “hug that I needed.” She said the trauma-informed environment helped her children feel safe and allowed the family to focus on essential tasks like medical appointments. Superintendent Jeff Baerwald of Nine Mile Falls emphasized that every child in his district was affected and expressed hope that the community’s regeneration will mirror the landscape’s gradual regrowth.

The Guardian

• “As an educator, I feel it’s our moral imperative,” — Laurie Morrison, Spokane public schools’ chief academic officer

The Guardian

• “Looking at it from the small, rural community perspective, outsiders aren’t always going to be embraced,” — Baerwald. The

The Guardian

• “The batteries blew, exploded. So our fridge in the camper died. We had no running water. We had no running toilet. We were just living in a hot box. And out in the smoke and the heat most of the day,” — Backman. The

The Guardian

• “Going to camp meant they were surrounded by adults who a) love kids and b) brought in this kind of trauma-informed practice,” — Mareesha Backman

The Guardian