In early October, Camp Courageous CEO, Charlie Becker, shared with the Camp Courageous  staff  that camper, Charlie Cummins wasn’t feeling 100%, and when he was visiting Charlie C.  he kept asking for a ‘purple Camp shirt’.   If one knows camper Charlie Cummins, he LOVES his camp shirts and gets at least one new one each time he comes to camp.  Charlie Cummins was one of the first 211 campers at to attend Camp Courageous during that first summer of 1974.  He has been attending Camp every year since, so one can only imagine how many Camp shirts he has.  However, Camp has not had a purple shirt for a long  time.  Only past staff t-shirts, that are purple could be found.   So, Kaite Ryan, former Program Director,  went to work.. creating a design for a ‘purple shirt’ for Charlie Cummins with the inspiration of creating a shirt that also encapsulated his parent’s work and dedicated in the early years of Camp Courageous existence. As Kaite dug deeper in the Tait and Dotty Cummins history with camp, she realized the profound impact they truly had on Camp and the role they played through journalism, advocating and WMT broadcasting. The design of the shirt included this in mind, with the camp aspect, along with a broadcasting mic.  After designing and knowing that time was of the essence, Kaite reached out to local t-shirt companies and Jake Oglesby from WCC Brands Custom Apparel of Kieler, WI was more than willing to make this idea a reality as a surprise gift for Charlie Cummins. Jake spent his weekend tweaking the design and rushed it off to printing, even personally going to the local craft store to get the desired color and size so the shirts could be made right away. He truly went ‘above & beyond’ to make this idea a reality.  Jake even met Kaite halfway to camp with the shirts and DONATED the shirts as a gift to camp, he stated “The day I accept money for something like this is the day I never need to be in this industry again!! Happy to help”. Kaite then drove back to Camp with the purple shirts as a surprise for Charlie Becker and Charlie Cummins, as 2 shirts were created, one for each of the Charlies!!

CEO, Charlie Becker presented these shirts to camper Charlie Cummins and he was thrilled! They put them on and posed for a photo with their matching Charlie Shirts 😊…

Pictured (L-R): Camper Charlie Cummins and CEO Charlie Becker

Pictured is Jake Oglesby from WCC Brands Custom Apparel of Kieler, WI

On the front is a mic, trees, and a camp fire and the shirt says:

CAMP COURAGEOUS   INSPIRED BY TAIT & DOTTY CUMMINS  On the back it says, Courage grows in community

What a heartwarming treasure to both Charlies!