BEGGS, Okla. — A nonprofit is giving children in Beggs a place to play, make friends, and be kids again after an EF-3 tornado damaged several school buildings and forced the district to close for two weeks.
Project: Camp, which travels to areas impacted by natural disasters, is offering children ages 6 to 16, in Beggs, a full day of activities, including basketball, arts and crafts, and time with friends, along with free lunch and snacks.
What is Project: Camp?
The nonprofit organization launches pop-up camps within 48 hours of a disaster, offering full-day programs for children ages 6 to 16. The camps provide structure, activities, and social-emotional support to help kids cope while families, schools, and childcare providers work on recovery plans.
Each camp typically runs for five days and can serve anywhere from a dozen to more than 100 children. Programs are staffed by volunteer childcare professionals, including teachers and camp counselors, and can extend beyond five days depending on community needs.
Project: Camp is a registered nonprofit based in Los Angeles. Over the past five years, the organization has provided more than 40,000 hours of free programming to children affected by disasters and coordinated more than 13,000 hours of volunteer service.
The group has responded to disasters across the U.S., including the Los Angeles wildfires in 2025, Hurricane Helene in 2024, the Maui wildfires in 2023, and Hurricane Ian in 2022. Project: Camp is also working to build a national Rapid Response Camp Network to help communities better support children and families during future disasters.
Previous coverage>>>One building at Beggs Middle School will NOT be used for the rest of the year
How was Beggs picked for a pop-up camp?
The storm damaged Beggs Middle School buildings.
Meier said the program was built for moments like this.
"Our program is designed to help kids have a place to be when schools are out, and other childcare networks are disrupted."
Meier said they called the district and the emergency manager to ask whether they needed childcare, and the emergency manager said yes.
How does the day camp help kids cope?
Beyond keeping kids busy, Project: Camp aims to help children process trauma before it takes a deeper hold on them.
"A lot of those things can be born out of a traumatic event in childhood, and so our program is designed to help them process it and not let that happen," Meier said.
Tyler McGuire, a parent and youth pastor at Assembly of God, said the program has been a meaningful resource for families scrambling to find childcare after the tornado upended their routines.
"That's why we're going to go through spring break because we know a lot of parents have been affected, and they need something to do with their kids, and we want this to definitely be an option," McGuire said.
For McGuire's fifth-grade daughter, Aleah, the camp has offered something simpler but just as important — time with her friends.
"Playing basketball, because it's more we get to know friendships and play basketball together and practice," Aleah said.
Staff said the familiar social environment is a key part of what makes the program work.
"They feel comfortable around their peers, around their friend group, so that they can be happy and have fun."
For Aleah, getting back to something normal after a difficult start to March has made all the difference.
"It's because I get to see my friends…It's fun that you know that you're still going to be a kid for like a couple of years, and I really like being a kid," Aleah said.
The camp is open 9 am to 3 pm, 3/13 and 3/16-3/20.
To volunteer or register your child, click here.
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