Eight months ago, a teenage girl was running from school, home and from difficult conversations, according to Camp E-Nini-Hassee director Jo Lynn Smith, but on Saturday, Oct. 24, that same girl plans to run toward a finish line.
The teen is among five campers Smith plans to bring to the Camp Spirit 5K at Black Diamond Ranch in Lecanto.
“I'm already looking ahead and like manifesting what that is going to feel like when that kid crosses that finish line,” Smith said.
Proceeds will benefit E-Nini-Hassee, a residential outdoor therapeutic program in Floral City where girls ages 12-to-18 attend school, live in campsites and work through emotional and behavioral challenges through shared daily responsibilities. Smith said the fundraiser helps cover the cost of attending camp for families who cannot afford it.
“A lot of them are really struggling. They're really, really struggling,” Smith said.
For runners and walkers, the event offers a chance to meet the young people behind the cause. Each participant’s race bag will contain a letter written by a camper, and participants will be able to choose a craft made by one of the girls.
Campers have spent months writing the letters, Smith said. Some have written several to help ensure there are enough for each participant. The letters thank runners for supporting the camp and share details about the girls who wrote them.
“Those are things that make it a little more personal,” Smith said.
This year marks the sixth annual race. Smith said a former camper proposed the event after the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted the camp’s traditional fish fries and spaghetti dinners.
Those gatherings had brought community members onto camp property and helped pay for items such as Christmas presents for campers. The race offered another way to bring supporters together.
Since then, the event has become a way to raise money and build relationships with businesses, former campers and people unfamiliar with the program. Smith estimated that last year’s event raised about $120,000.
Several former campers have signed up to run this year. Their participation will bring together girls currently in the program and women who have carried their camp experiences into adulthood.
Jack and Ruth Eckerd founded E-Nini-Hassee in 1969. More than five decades later, outdoor living remains central to its approach.
Smith said the property spans 840 acres. Girls help build some of the structures they live in, designing tents, cutting pine trees, removing the bark and assembling the supports.
Other lessons happen through ordinary routines. Campers make their beds, complete chores and walk the trails to the dining hall. They also participate in activities such as a ropes course.
Smith said that living together gives girls opportunities to work through challenges with their peers and counselors. Learning happens as they navigate responsibilities, relationships and decisions throughout the day.
“You take that group and you just live life together,” Smith said.
Everyday activities can take on new meaning for campers who previously struggled to find motivation or participate in daily life.
Smith described another girl who plans to attend Saturday’s event. A year earlier, the girl told Smith, she would not have been interested in walking even to the mailbox. Now, she plans to complete the mile walk.
Smith said such changes occur through continued support rather than a single activity or conversation.
“It’s sticking with a kid through ups and downs, trials and errors,” Smith said.
Education is also part of daily life. The camp operates a school program where students can continue their coursework and earn a high school diploma.
Girls arrive with different academic backgrounds and needs. Some struggle to read, while others have participated in dual enrollment courses. Instruction moves at each student’s pace.
Beyond helping students catch up academically, Smith wants girls to develop the confidence to ask for help and the desire to keep learning.
Michael Herrera, the camp’s director of development, said girls typically stay for 12-to-18 months.
“What it is pretty much is just a home away from home,” Herrera said. “A safe place for these young women to grow, to be sustainable in their lives, to learn a better way of living, and most importantly, from what I’ve seen, how to grow together.”
The challenges in their personal lives do not necessarily end when a girl leaves camp. Smith said former campers may return to difficult family relationships, school pressures and other obstacles.
Staff members sometimes remain involved with some students after graduation. On the day of this interview, Smith said a social worker was preparing to visit a former camper who had been caught drinking at school. The girl had otherwise been doing well since leaving the program about eight months earlier.
The camp cannot undo a girl’s past. Instead, its work focuses on helping her develop skills she can carry into adulthood.
“A lot of what we do is building confidence in these young girls to speak publicly, to engage others publicly as part of the therapy and the human process,” Herrera said.
Smith has watched that process unfold since joining the camp in 1985. After graduating from college, she arrived expecting to fulfill a two-year commitment.
She stayed because she wanted to see campers graduate. Then another group arrived, along with counselors she wanted to support through their own commitments.
Today, former campers call with updates about college, marriage and children. One recently told Smith that her husband was preparing to retire.
Those relationships give Smith a view of the camp’s role in girls’ lives long after they leave its trails.
Saturday’s event will help introduce more people to that work. Registration and packet pickup begin at 7 a.m., followed by the 5K at 8 a.m. and the mile walk at 8:05 a.m. An awards ceremony is scheduled for about 9:15 a.m., and Black Diamond Ranch will host a continental breakfast in its clubhouse.
Online registration is available through DRC Sports. Virtual options are also available for supporters who cannot attend.
For families seeking the camp’s support, Smith said proceeds will help make the program accessible.
“It'll help us open the door for families and kids that don't have another way to get to us,” Smith said. “It will help fund them to come to camp and, you know, prayerfully change their lives.”