Winners’ Camp wins big with $10,000 donation

On May 5th, 2009 Delorese Gregoire was invited as a guest panelist on “The Recovery Project” part of the Town Hall Meeting in Honolulu sponsored by A&E Oceanic TimeWarner Cable. Libby O’Connell, senior vice president of corporate outreach for A&E stunned Gregoire by presenting her with a check for $10,000 to help fund Winners’ Camp. Gregoire exclaimed, “It was a total surprise to get this money, there was no indication prior to the show. I was totally floored, I let out a yelp!”

In what Gregoire described as ‘divine intervention,’ on live television she announced that she would spend the money on a special camp for teenagers whose parents are on drugs. She could not imagine what life would be like for a typical teenager going through typical teenage anxieties and angst and trying to deal with a parent using drugs. Gregoire noted how unstable their lives are, “They never know what they might be going home to. I want to help them by giving them tools to cope and learn how to ‘dodge the bullet’ of emotional turmoil.” The biggest challenge facing these kids, Gregoire noted, is how to avoid going down the same road as their parents. Teaching them to live in the principle of “get smart, don’t start” is a natural for Gregoire.

This specially designed program given by Winners’ Camp will be the perfect venue for providing teens with the tools to make positive choices in their lives. Winners’ Camp was founded in 1985 by Gregoire, as an organization to give teens the tools they need to make positive choices in their lives. Gregoire’s own story has been an inspiration for us all, and she continues to be a powerful role model for the teens in her program and the community. Growing up bouncing from foster home to foster home, Gregoire had a vision to help teens from all walks of life make the transition from childhood to adulthood successfully in order to live up to their full potential. Winners’ Camp teaches powerful lifelong lessons using helpful slogans like; “If it’s to be, it’s up to me” and the five R’s of life “Respect, Responsibility, Resourcefulness, Restraint and Resilience.”

The Recovery Project was hosted by Duane Lee Chapman, better known as “Dog the Bounty Hunter” and his wife Beth Chapman. Gregoire mentioned, “I was very impressed with the Chapmans and what they are doing in Hawaii to prevent drug use and to aid in recovery for addicts.” The check Gregoire received was given on behalf of Duane & Beth Chapman in loving memory of their daughter Barbara Katie Chapman.

With the money from the donation, Gregoire plans on holding a camp and a one-year follow up support meeting for teens with drug abuse in their families. Gregoire says “Our focus is on working with teenagers moving toward success – it is not our practice to do camps with teens with this kind of adversity in their lives, but I’d like to do something meaningful with this money and I know I can do it.” The camp will provide these teenagers with vital information and skills to help them deal with their home environment and show them how to choose a different future. The camp will offer a platform for them to build an “ohana” with teens who face similar situations, giving them an opportunity to have a network of friends facing similar challenges in their lives from the camp along with great peer mentors from the Winners’ Camp staff. Gregoire, always in touch with the latest technology teens are utilizing, is also considering the idea of creating a My Space page for the teens to “talk story” and get extra support outside of Winners’ Camp.

After being held on different locations on Oahu and Kauai, in 2000, Winners’ Camp was given a permit site on Kamehame Ridge by the Kamehameha Schools Princess Pauahi Bishop Estate. The site is called Hawaii Leadership Academy to emphasize the renewed focus on educational and academic training. The next Winners’ Camp which is open to the public will be from July 19-25th. Winners Camp is a leadership retreat for teenagers. “The Winners’ Camp mission is to provide cutting-edge leadership training for teens, their families and teachers; and to awaken teenagers to their highest personal and community potential.” Instead of sending your child to a summer fun camp, Gregoire encourages people to give their kids an opportunity to learn the valuable tools that she teaches teens to make a difference in their own lives, families, at school and in the world. For more information on how to sign your teen up for Winners’ Camp, or how to donate to this inspirational program, please visit the website at: www.winnerscamp.com or at 808-306-8008.