Welcome to
Camp Brittney
Ministries

20 years ago God started stirring the idea of a camp for children and youth in the heart of Kenneth Bledsoe. Kenneth and his wife, Dayna, along with their children, Hunter and Holli, were living in Costa Rica studying at The Spanish Language Institute. While living in Costa Rica Kenneth observed the youth that occupied the streets when school was not in session. What Kenneth saw stuck with him even after him and his family returned to the states.

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Once back in the United States, Kenneth and Dayna felt God calling them to lead teams to Costa Rica, especially to work with El Lugar, their Costa Rican home church where Chino was the pastor. In February 2004, the Bledsoe’s led their first group of 6 people, mainly pastors and key leaders of local area Baptist churches. The purpose being to stir in their hearts a love and an eagerness to share Christ in Costa Rica. God was at work! In June 2004 a second team set out. This time there were 26 in the group, many being pre-teens and teenagers from Saluda and Ninety Six, South Carolina. This group worked hard in two extremely poor, crime-impoverished areas known as Los Guido and Tejarcillos. Daily they walked, prayed, and worked among the shacks and shambles of these peoples’ lives. Hearts were changing in the Costa Ricans but God was also changing the hearts of people on the team. The people from small town South Carolina that went to Costa Rica preparing to influence other peoples lives were being changed themselves. God put a love in their hearts for the Costa Rican people and a desire to see them have their eternity secured. Kenneth shared with this group about the dream of building a camp and giving the people the now loved so dearly a place to go study and learn more about God’s word away from their living conditions. Even then it was still just a dream!

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Preparations for an upcoming trip in 2005 began with teenagers from Ninety Six and Saluda, South Carolina writing letters expressing their reasoning for wanting to go and/or return to Costa Rica. The first to turn their letter in was Brittney Strom. Brittney was only 14 when she went on her first and only trip to Costa Rica. During the June 2004 trip Brittney felt that God had called her to be a missionary to the Costa Rican people. Her heart was truly broken for the children there.

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Tragically on January 7, 2005, Brittney’s life ended in a plane crash with her father James, her mother Robin, and her brother Bradley. However, Brittney’s legacy lives on. Camp Brittney Ministries, a Nonprofit 501 (c) organization, was established in her memory with the purpose of constructing and maintaining a youth camp in Costa Rica.

On September 21, 2006 the property known as Camp Brittney was purchased and paid in full. The payoff of this property was truly a miracle of God and a confirmation from Him that Brittney’s mission will continue!

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Brittneys legacy and Kenneth’s dream is what started Camp Brittney but Chino and his family are the hands and feet that keep it going strong. The donors past, present, and future, are what keeps the doors open at camp for all of the youth and kids to continue to learn about God and grow on their spiritual walks. This explains why fundraising is so important! It not only helps people be Gods hands and feet but it also contributes to a place for spiritual growth and security for these kids.