Our Chapter
We started out in 2003 as Royal Family Kids’ Camp, serving Santa Cruz and Monterey Bay. As our parent organization, and the area we serve, has expanded over the years we have now become For The Children Central Coast.
We are excited to continue providing camp our annual one week summer camp for abused, neglected, and abandoned foster kids from the Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, and Monterey counties of California. Local volunteers, with a heart for hurting children, work to make this camp a thoroughly uplifting springboard to enable foster kids to rise above their current situation and have hope for tomorrow.
At the beginning of their summer vacation the children are warmly welcomed to a place where they are treated with love and respect and also well fed in body, mind, and spirit. Swimming, hiking, arts and crafts, drama, music, tea parties, and camp fires are all part of this camp experience. Wednesday at camp is “Everybody’s Birthday Party” where each child is given a birthday box, and they can enjoy a birthday party filled with games, bounce houses, and cake!
But most importantly, they learn about God’s unconditional love and seeds are planted for healing to take place.
Katie Cramton,
Chapter Director
Meet the Directors
All of our staff are volunteers, including our directors. They both are grateful to have the opportunity to serve children in our community.
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Chapter DirectorI was born in Santa Cruz and have been luck enough to stay here my entire life. I have served in some capacity with For the Children for 18 years, as soon as I was old enough to volunteer. I have been a joy to serve in many roles including Counselor, Photographer, Assistant Director and then Chapter Director since 2017. It has been the honor of my life to be able to continue to serve the children in our community that desperately need to know about God’s love for them.
I work full time at UCSC and am married to my wonderful husband who works as a Fire Medic and we have to wonderful little girls that keep us on our toes.
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Mentor Program DirectorBorn and raised in San Francisco in 1969 and have lived all around the SF Bay Area until making my home in Santa Cruz in 2002. I've been married to my wonderful wife, Rose, for 22 years. We currently have 4 grandchildren from our 3 adult children. I've been blessed to pastor Calvary Chapel Capitola Church since September of 2016 and plan to be here until the Lord returns or He calls me home. I started serving in the Royal Family in 2019 and have loved every second of it. I truly love being part of this family and getting the privilege to serve our kids God has put into our lives. I can't thank Him enough for the opportunity we have been given.
390,000
Children in Foster Care Nationally
770
Children in Foster Care in Santa Cruz, Santa Clara and Monterey Counties
21
Years In Operation
Same Heart, New Name, Bigger Impact.
We are now For The Children and here’s why.
For 30 years, volunteers, churches, businesses, local municipal partners and Royal Family Kids staff have dedicated their time, talent and treasures to help transform the lives of vulnerable children across the US, and world.
While RFK has formally overseen our camps and mentoring programs, the breadth of our work has evolved far beyond these two programs. Today we provide direct trauma intervention, advocacy, fostering, adoption, support to parents, and other crucial wraparound services.
While we acknowledge the expansion of our work across our 252 chapters, COVID-19 has profoundly increased the needs of children and families. Extreme gaps in fulfilling these needs cannot be overstated.
In order to address the systemic issues surrounding child welfare today, our organization must respond.
Consequently, as of November 2020, Royal Family KIDS, will officially be renamed For The Children. This transition will bring clarity to new opportunities, from providing laptops and shoes to needy children, to assisting overburdened social workers, to providing temporary shelter.
The teaching and example of Jesus in caring for “the least of these” will remain our motivation. As For The Children, we are also eager to focus on the systemic issues facing children, around the globe.
