About Camp Grace
Change the Environment. Change the Heart.
Our Mission
Camp Grace exists for one reason: to transform the lives of under-served youth through the love and grace of Jesus Christ. We do this by providing life-changing overnight camp experiences that pull young people out of their everyday challenges and immerse them in an environment where they encounter the unconditional love of God through encouragement, consistent mentorship, and the gospel message that changes everything.
For many of the kids who walk through our gates, camp is the first place they have ever felt truly safe, truly seen, and truly valued. Away from the pressures of home, the distractions of the streets, and the weight of circumstances they did not choose, something remarkable begins to happen. Walls come down. Hope takes root. And the Holy Spirit begins a work that only He can do.
Over the years, our week-long overnight programs have helped break cycles of poverty, crime, teen pregnancy, and high school dropout rates. But the transformation we are most passionate about goes deeper than behavior—it reaches the soul. We have had the privilege of witnessing over 7,116 campers give their lives to Jesus Christ. That is not a program result. That is the power of God moving in the hearts of young people when they are finally in an environment where His love can reach them.
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Why Camp?
People often ask us, “Why camp?” The answer is rooted in a truth we have seen God confirm over and over again. Camp works because it changes the environment. And when you change the environment, you create space for Jesus to change the heart.
Think about a young person who has never left their neighborhood—who has never seen the stars without the glow of streetlights, never sat around a campfire with adults who genuinely care about their future, never heard someone say that God created them on purpose, for a purpose. That shift in surroundings does something powerful. It strips away the noise and the chaos, and it opens a door that only Jesus can walk through.
Across 455 acres of God’s creation, with over 500 beds ready to welcome the next generation, Camp Grace is a place set apart. It is not simply a retreat from the world—it is holy ground where young people encounter the living God, many of them for the very first time. When kids are removed from environments defined by limitation and placed in an environment defined by the love of Christ, we watch in awe as He begins to do what no program, no curriculum, and no human effort ever could on its own. He makes all things new.
The Story Behind the Mission
“Camp Grace was born out of a life that was transformed—first by a change in environment, and then by the saving grace of Jesus Christ.”
— Dave Pridemore, Executive Director
Our Executive Director, Dave, grew up poor in East Liverpool, Ohio—a small factory town where the expected path for most kids was to end up working in a steel mill. Dave was one of four children, and the odds were stacked against all of them. But God had a different plan.
As a young kid, Dave competed in a gymnastics meet at The Ohio State University, and for the first time, his world got bigger. Standing on that campus, surrounded by possibility he had never imagined, the dream of going to college was born in his heart.
That single change in environment altered the entire trajectory of his life. Today, Dave is the only one of those four children to hold a college degree—and he didn’t stop at one. As an alumnus of The Ohio State University, he went on to earn two master’s degrees, a journey he credits to that pivotal moment when his surroundings showed him something bigger than what he had always known.
But the most important transformation in Dave’s life was not the degrees or the achievements. It was the day he surrendered his life to Jesus Christ. When the truth of the gospel took hold of his heart, everything changed—his identity, his purpose, and his vision for what God could do through a willing life.
Dave credits the vision, the success, and the relentless drive behind Camp Grace not to his own strength, but to the power of Christ working in and through him.
It is this two-fold testimony that fuels everything we do at Camp Grace. We change the environment because we know firsthand that it opens eyes to new possibilities. But we know that only Jesus changes hearts. That is why our motto is more than a tagline—it is a declaration of faith: Change the Environment. Change the Heart.
How We Do It
God has been faithful. With over 20,000 campers served, more than 60 partners, and 30+ communities reached, Camp Grace is a testament to what happens when God’s people come together around a shared calling. Transforming lives is not something that happens by accident. It takes an entire community rallying around the mission God has laid on our hearts.
Corporate Partners
Corporate partners provide the financial foundation that keeps our doors open and our programs thriving. Their generosity is an act of Kingdom investment, ensuring that cost is never a barrier for a child who needs to experience the love of Jesus at camp.
Join UsYear-Round Retreats
Retreat experiences welcome groups onto our 455-acre campus throughout every season, generating critical revenue that directly funds our summer camp programs for kids. Every retreat guest who walks our grounds is helping send a child to camp—whether they know it or not, they are part of the mission.
Book a RetreatUrban Partners
Urban partners are the organizations and ministry leaders embedded in the communities we serve. They identify the kids who need camp the most, bring them to our doorstep, and continue walking alongside them long after the week is over. They are the hands and feet of Jesus in neighborhoods across more than 30 communities.
Learn MoreVolunteers
Volunteers are the heartbeat of Camp Grace. They show up week after week to pour the love of Christ into kids who desperately need it. They serve as mentors, role models, and living proof that God places people in your life who genuinely care. Every hug, every prayer spoken over a camper, every late-night conversation around a campfire adds up to something eternal.
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The Vision Ahead
Every child deserves the chance to hear the gospel. Every young person deserves to be surrounded by people who reflect the love of Christ—who see not where they come from, but who God created them to be. That is the heart of Camp Grace.
We believe that when you remove a child from an environment of limitation and place them in an environment saturated with the presence of God, something extraordinary happens. We have seen it in the eyes of a teenager who realizes for the first time that they are loved by their Creator. We have seen it in the 7,116 salvations that represent lives forever changed by the grace of Jesus. We have seen it in the letters from former campers who went on to graduate high school, attend college, build families rooted in faith, and break every cycle that once held their family captive.
None of this is our doing. This is the work of a faithful God who continues to show up on 455 acres in ways we could never orchestrate on our own. Camp Grace is simply the environment. Jesus is the one who changes hearts.
This is the mission that drives us. This is the story that sustains us. And with every new summer, every new camper, and every new partner who answers the call, the Kingdom grows.
