Children and KIDS Camp to benefit from movie

This weekend a movie called “CAMP” will be coming to Sidney’s Fox Theater. “CAMP” is not just any movie however, it is a movie that conveys the lives of neglected and abused children and raises funds to help them.

“A portion of the profits from the movie will help send abused and neglected children in Western Nebraska to the Sidney Royal Family KIDS camp,” said Yvonne Donaldson, the director of Royal Family Kids Western Nebraska branch.

Royal Family KIDS is a worldwide organization devoted to helping abused, neglected and abandoned children.

Every year camps around the globe are held by the association to help children who have experienced these situations. Nine to 10 camps are held annually in Eastern Nebraska, but Donaldson and her team held the first ever Western Nebraska camp last summer and will again this summer.

“Royal Family KIDS, Inc. is a non-profit and is the nation’s leading network of camps for abused, neglected and abandoned children,” according to the organization’s representatives.

“By mobilizing local churches to sponsor a one-week camp for abused and neglected children ages 7-11 in their local community, RFKC gets caring adults involved in the lives of children who need them most,” they said.

“Each camp has two very simple goals: make positive childhood memories for the kids and let them experience unconditional love from an adult.”

Donaldson and her team have brought the movie to Sidney and opening night will be Friday, March 15 at 7 p.m. Other show times for the movie will be 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. with matinees on Saturday and Sunday at 4 p.m.

The film is inspired by true stories from Royal Family KIDS camps and surrounds an investment advisor who volunteers his time at a camp to impress a new client of his. The investment advisor, Ken Matthews (played by Michael Mattera), is paired with a troubled, angry 10-year-old youth, Eli (played by Miles Elliot from “The Mentalist”), to be his “camper.” Eli has a drug-addict mother and abusive father. Although Matthews has trouble handling the difficult Eli, he soon comes to feel a father-like unconditional love for the child, according to the film production team.

Although the film is fictional, it comes from experiences that Jacob Roebuck, film writer and director, and Emily Shubin, the film producer, had at camp. “The movie shares the story of hope on the big screen that camps provide to these forgotten children,” said Roebuck. “At camp we get an opportunity to give unconditional love to those who are seemingly unlovable. And in return, we learn we have the capacity to love at a depth we never experienced before. It is our hope this film will inspire people to open their hearts to forgotten children who need adults in their lives.”

“It’s wild to see 25 years of heartache and hope captured and woven into a movie,” said Glenn Garvin, Vice President of RFK camps. “’CAMP’ transports you to a place where good people want to help children who have to deal with the collateral damage of adult’s bad decisions.”

For more information on the film and how you can help the Royal Family KIDS camp in Western Nebraska, contact Yvonne Donaldson at 308-249-6494 or Jim Gerhold at 417-766-0009.