Enkindled Spirits

Daniel Gottshall

Daniel Gottshall, 10, was disappointed when he found out the American Youth Foundation would not be able to welcome campers to Miniwanca in 2020. His family has spent many summers at Miniwanca and Merrowvista.

Daniel is a fourth-generation camper who has attended Miniwanca for two years. His mother, Abbey Cleveland, and aunt, Ruth Cleveland, attended as children; Ruth was a camper and leader at Merrowvista, too. Daniel’s grandmother, Louise “Weezie” Orcutt Cleveland, attended Miniwanca, and his great-grandmother, Do Toren Orcutt, was a leader and athletic director in camp’s early years. (Daniel noted that he is the first in his family to attend Boys Camp.)

While earning virtual badges during Invincible Summer, Daniel came upon the fundraising badge and had an idea. He could earn his Founder Medal and give back to the AYF – with tomatoes. Daniel’s family vegetable garden had become a “tomato forest” over the summer, and there were too many cherry tomatoes for his family to eat. What if, he thought, he could offer friends and neighbors a pint of homegrown produce in exchange for a donation to the AYF?

With his mom’s help marketing his wares on NextDoor, a social networking app, Daniel found several neighbors eager for fresh cherry tomatoes and to donate to a good cause. Daniel raised $250 for the AYF in just a few weeks – and earned his Founder Medal for the summer.

Taylor Eldridge

Since the summer she spent on the sand dunes of Miniwanca in 2013, Taylor Eldridge has become an investigative journalist who has written award-winning work focusing on criminal justice. As a Girls Camp cabin leader, Taylor immediately connected with campers and staff as an inspiring counselor. Today, Taylor uses her voice and her writing to shine a light on injustice in the prison system and health care deficiencies.

Taylor’s path to Miniwanca was a sudden detour after a chance meeting with then Girls Camp Director Liz Marshall at a Yale alumni reunion. She expressed an interest in working with youth, and just a few weeks later, Taylor arrived at Miniwanca ready to lead campers in a summer of exploration and growth.

Taylor honed her investigative reporting skills at Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. She was awarded a fellowship at the prestigious Marshall Project, a nonprofit news organization that covers the U.S. criminal justice system. There, Taylor wrote articles exposing abuses in the prison system. Her work in partnership with WNYC on the use of solitary confinement for teenagers won the 2019 Alfred I. duPontColumbia Award.

The following year, Taylor was awarded an Ida B. Wells Fellowship with Type Investigations, where she wrote extensively on prison health care. Her article, “Why Prisoners Get the Doctors No One Else Wants,” was a 2020 Livingston Award finalist. Using her voice to amplify and share untold stories is how Taylor lives the AYF mission.

Kate Hampson

Eight-year-old Kate Hampson had returned home to River Forest, Illinois after her first summer at Miniwanca in 2013. Almost every day, she watched a group of young adults with developmental disabilities walk or ride their bikes to Opportunity Knocks, a nonprofit built to better meet the needs and potential of adults with disabilities.

She and her mother met with the founders of Opportunity Knocks and learned more about the organization. Keen to give back, Kate asked friends and family to help her launch Knocktoberfest to raise funds for Opportunity Knocks through the sale of sell baked goods, doll clothes, and more. Each year before the big day, the Knockers (the kids who fundraise) and the Warriors (the young adults served by Opportunity Knocks) create signs and get to know each other.

While the Warriors celebrate the efforts made for Knocktoberfest, the Knockers celebrate the time and efforts the Warriors give to the greater community through volunteering. In the seven years since its inception, Knocktoberfest has raised more than $45,000.

Now 15, Kate has returned to Miniwanca each summer and currently serves on the junior board for Opportunity Knocks, where she helps plan and advise on other fundraising projects and works on site with the Warriors through her school service program.