What is Camp Ten Trees?
Camp Ten Trees (CTT) is an overnight summer camp located in Washington State. It features one week for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth and their allies, and one week for the children of LGBTQ and/or non-traditional families. It is a place for diverse youth who share common experiences to come together and form a community that is truly their own. In addition to typical camp activities, campers will engage in age-appropriate workshops centered around diversity, homophobia, identity, and youth coalition building.CTT is a fiscally-sponsored project of the Seattle LGBT Community Center/Queen City Community Development, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Donations, grants, and other contributions allow Camp Ten Trees to maintain acessibility and low cost for our youth. We appreciate any donations either financial or in-kind. To make a tax-deductible donation, or to find out more about how you can help CTT, click here.
Camp Ten Trees was founded in 2000 by four Co-Directors and offered its first summer camp in August 2001 with 20 campers. We have recently grown to over 200 campers and continue to grow year after year. Camp Ten Trees was the first of its kind in the world and is the only summer camp of its kind in the United States.
Who We Are
Camp Ten Trees is a completely volunteer-run organization, depending on over 60 dedicated volunteer staff during camp sessions--many of whom help out year-round with events, planning, and other opportunities. Our diverse staff go through an extensive application process, and bring backgrounds and skills in teaching, social work, community organizing, law and much more. Day At Camp
Each day at camp is filled with activities that are tailored to the interests of our campers, providing numerous opportunities to experience new challeneges and adventures. Our daily schedule is structured to provide campers with lots of options, whehther it be trying out something new or sticking with an old favorite.
We are currently enhancing our daily schedule to accommodate the growing changes and needs of our campers.
At camp, our activities are designed to empower campers through play in order to enhance self-esteem, life skills, independence, leadership and self-confidence. We provide a mixture of unit activities, all-camp activities, and individual choice, allowing campers to strengthen old skills and develop new ones in a structured outdoor setting. Our specialty areas (waterfront and archery range) are directed by nationally certified instructors. In addtion, we offer arts & crafts, boating, swimming & swimming lessons, creative writing, cartooning, dancing, hikes/nature walks, discussions, music, sports, youth organizing, and much more!
Our Counselor-In-Training (CIT) program is CTT's specialized teen leadership program. We are currently enhancing this portion of our programming, so stay tuned for more information!
We are currently enhancing our daily schedule to accommodate the growing changes and needs of our campers.