A Labor of Love
How Heritage Camps’ Pam Sweetser left her occupation and found her life’s work enriching the cultural lives of adoptive families
By Erin Vanderberg
In the summer of 1992, the Sweetser family – Dan, Pam and their adopted children, Lacey, from Korea, and Sam, from India – packed up the family car and headed up to Snow Mountain Ranch outside Winter Park to participate in a camp for Korean adoptees and their families.
The camp was the first of its kind in Colorado. The organizer, Beth McDonald, had attended a similar camp in Minnesota, “Camp Kimchee,” and decided that she could replicate it closer to home.
The Sweetsers had a great time, but when it was all over, their three-year-old Sam concluded, “I Korean.” That next year, the Sweetsers went back up the mountain – but this time Pam had her study cap. She planned to emulate Korean camp for Indian adoptees, so that Sam could learn his heritage as well.
During her first planning meeting for Indian Camp at her Park Hill home in 1994 (full editorial disclosure: my mom, Sue Vanderberg, was there), Pam got a call from Beth asking her to take over Korean camp in addition to starting Indian camp.
Suddenly Pam, who had left her job as the Director of Student Services at the Denver School of Technology to stay at home with her kids, was back to full-time work as the volunteer director of what would become the Heritage Camps for Adoptive Families, Inc.
“I thought it would be just these two camps and I would volunteer until I didn’t want to volunteer anymore, but other parents had needs…” said Pam.
Today, Heritage Camps conducts 11 annual camps for adoptive families with children from Africa & the Caribbean, Cambodia, China (two camps), India & Nepal, Korea, Latin America, the Philippines, Russia, the U.S. and Vietnam. Overall, these camps draw around 5,000 participants each summer from all across the United States and internationally. Korean Heritage Camp just celebrated its 20th session.
“Parents who adopt children from another culture give them all the love in the world and they give them what they need to nurture them – education, activities and whatever else they need to grow into healthy and happy adults,” said Pam. “But what we cannot give them is their culture.”
The mission of Heritage Camps is to promote cultural understanding for adopted kids while facilitating community among adoptive families.
After the initial seven years of volunteering, Pam now earns a salary as the Executive Director of the program. Along with a few part-time staffers, Pam credits volunteers with keeping the program robust and interesting. Parents, cultural community members, adoption and family professionals, and Heritage Camp graduates participate every summer as teachers, counselors and entertainers at the camps.
For Pam, directing the Heritage Camps is a labor of love. She has met a community of people that she now considers close friends, the camps have enriched the lives of her children and the myriad of other kids she’s watched grow up in the program and she has learned a significant amount about her children’s backgrounds and world culture.
“I don’t know that I would have sought out Korean Folk Music without the camps,” joked Pam.
Last year, the Heritage Camps launched a domestic adoption camp in response to a high-level of interest from families. Pam was initially reticent to do the camp because she was unsure how to structure it without the cultural piece. After one very successful first year, it was clear that all adoptive families are similarly drawn to each other and find value in their common ground.
“Unless you are adopted, or have an adopted member of your family, it’s hard to grasp the idea that things like identity really do matter,” said Pam.
Pam feels fortunate that her nonprofit seems to be able to fill a niche. Despite the economy, these past few years have been steady for Heritage Camps – this past year marked the highest attendance rate for the camps yet – and for many participants, the camp is their family’s summer vacation.
Nevertheless, Pam is very mindful of keeping the registration fees low and soliciting grants for scholarship funds throughout the year.
“Never in a million years when I adopted my children did I think it would lead me to my life’s work,” said Pam.
Colorado Heritage Camps will host the More Than You & Me Gala on April 21st. For more information on the gala, the camps or volunteer and sponsorship opportunities, visit heritagecamps.org, email hcamps@comcast.net or call 303-320-4234.