The North Carolina Bankers Association Foundation’s Camp Challenge is a week-long summer camp experience for high-achieving, low-resource students from across North Carolina. This remarkable program began in 1993.  Each year, hundreds students attend Camp Challenge at no cost to their families, thanks to donations from our many generous partners.  Camp Challenge is located at Y Camp Weaver in Greensboro, North Carolina. For more information about Camp Weaver, visit www.campweaver.org.

While at Camp, students participate in a variety of activities including archery, ropes courses, skateboarding, digital media, cooking, the BLOB, block parties, and more! Camp Challenge campers also participate in an engaging personal finance course, which includes interactive activities and discussion on topics relevant to middle school students, such as automobile purchases, entrepreneurship, income and careers, and even financing education!

Camp Challenge sign-ups will be open soon!

Follow us on LinkedIn for more announcements as we approach the summer of 2022.

Ways to Get Involved

If you would like to help out with Camp Challenge, here are a few ways you can get involved:

  • DONATE: The cost to sponsor one student to attend Camp Challenge for an entire week is $650, although truly any amount given helps tremendously. Approximately 400 applications are received from all over the state each year, and we remain hopeful that we will be able to accept as many campers as possible each year. Please consider supporting a middle school student in this experience that they otherwise wouldn’t be given the opportunity to have.
  • VOLUNTEER: Throughout the summer, we will be looking for volunteers to help teach in our engaging personal finance course at Camp Challenge. The financial literacy class is held at 9:20 – 10:20 a.m. each day. Volunteer opportunities are open on Wednesdays and Thursdays this year. The Wednesday lesson will discuss the importance of education to have a successful career as well as being involved in the community through charity work and giving back. On Thursdays campers will learn about the function of a bank, how the banking system works, debits and credits and various forms of payments. After the class ends, volunteers are welcome to participate in any of the traditional summer camp activities and join the campers for lunch in the cafeteria. To sign up to volunteer click here.
  • HOLD A DONATION DRIVE: We are always looking for more classroom items that we can use during the eight weeks of Camp Challenge. The most common items we use during the week are calculators, pens, pencils, markers, and construction paper. Additionally, each summer we are faced with a number of students who show up without some of the essentials needed for the week. These items include deodorant, toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoo, body wash, and sleeping bags. If your bank is willing to hold a donation drive to bring in any of these supplies and/or toiletries, that would be a tremendous help.

For more information on any of the ways you can support Camp Challenge, please contact Michelle Sutton at (919) 781-7979 or michelle@ncbankers.org.