Connecting Families Through The Great American Campout

Written by Carol Cain on 02 June 2011

One of the things that I have missed the most about living in New York City is having a back yard. I remember as a kid, during a brief time in New Jersey, that we had a yard. My friends and I would go outside and build makeshift forts and spend hours upon hours sitting and sleeping in them or in our tents made up of chairs and my mom’s old blankets.

Ah. Such a great childhood pass time.

Now, as an adult, I have only gone camping a couple of times with my kids, and chances are we probably won’t be camping in the back alley any time soon.

But my heart still loves the idea of a backyard campout, which is why I wanted to let you know about the Great American Backyard Campout being promoted by the National Wildlife Federation. On the 4th Saturday of June, the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) supports Great Outdoors Month by coordinating this nationwide event, raising funds and awareness of the benefits of camping as a way to connect people with nature. The locations and types of campsites vary from backyard family campouts, local campgrounds to high‐profile campouts in select public campsites on a larger scale.

You can follow all the fun buzz (and even join in on it) going leading up to the grand campout event on Saturday, June 25, 2011. The hashtag on Twitter is #campout – NWF will be tweeting about this at @NWF, @BeOutThere, and @Green Hour

You can find them on Facebook (and also “like”) at http://www.facebook.com/backyardcampout

If you can participate as a Campout State Leader (meaning, sleep under the stars) and you will be included on the “wall of honor” on National Wildlife Federation’s blog and if you blog about your experience, your post will be shared with NWF’s large social media communities.

How to participate:

· Register at www.backyardcampout.org

· Like on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/backyardcampout

· If you blog (but you don’t have to to participate in the campout), publish a post on your blog about the event before the big day (with a link to www.backyardcampout.org for registration). Visit this page for badges you can use on your blog.

· Please email your blog to campout@nwf.org, with the subject “State Leader Blog” so they can make sure to include you in their wall of honor.

There are a couple ways to register:

1. Create your own team (camp with your family, invite friends and neighbors)

2. Register as an individual camper

3. Join an existing team near you. There are quite a few shared events taking place at parks and campsites across the country.

You can camp in your backyard, on your back patio, or go to a campsite – it’s up to you. Once you are registered, the website has lots of camping activities, helpful tips, and recipes. This is also a fundraising event (not mandatory), but we encourage you to set a goal and recruit family/friends to help you reach it. Funds go towards NWF programs to help connect kids with nature.

Just a note: If you can’t camp out on June 25, but can do it another weekend, THAT’S OK! You can still register and camp on a different night! Some families definitely wait until fall to camp out, especially if they live in a hot-weather state.

Happy Camp Out Adventures!