Sometimes a news story stops you in your tracks.
For the team at Service Champions Plumbing, Heating & AC, that happened recently when we learned about a devastating setback facing Camp Agape California—an organization preparing to welcome hundreds of Southern California children whose lives have been impacted by having a parent incarcerated.
Just weeks before camp, a trailer containing supplies intended for the children was stolen.
We learned about the theft through a KTLA5 news story, and after learning more about Camp Agape and the children it serves, we knew we wanted to help.
Service Champions presented Camp Agape California with a $1,000 donation to help replace the stolen supplies and make sure this year’s camp can continue creating the experience these children deserve.
What Is Camp Agape California?
Camp Agape California provides a free four-day camp specifically for children who have a parent in jail or prison.
But calling it simply a “summer camp” doesn’t fully capture what happens there.
Through activities, mentorship, relationships, and faith-based programming, children are given an opportunity to experience joy while learning about trust, love, forgiveness, hope, and healthy relationships.
Camp Agape describes its mission as helping disrupt the cycle of intergenerational incarceration. Its four-day experience focuses on children’s spiritual, social, and relational growth while helping prepare them for the possibility of a restorative relationship with their incarcerated parent following release.
Most importantly, the children attend completely free of charge.
Helping Children Who Are Often Overlooked
Parental incarceration doesn’t only affect the individual serving the sentence.
It can profoundly impact the children waiting for them at home.
Camp Agape California says approximately 292,000 California children have one or both parents in prison, underscoring just how many young people may be navigating circumstances most of their classmates and friends cannot fully understand.
Camp gives these children something incredibly important:
A place where they aren’t alone.
A place to build friendships with other kids who understand.
A place to laugh, play, learn, and simply be children.
And a community of mentors and volunteers reminding them that their circumstances don’t have to determine their future.
A Vision Brought From Hawaii to California
Camp Agape began in Hawaii in 2005 as a free camp created specifically for children of incarcerated parents.
Camp Agape California Directors Jon and Liz saw the impact of that model and shared a vision of bringing it to California—creating not simply an annual event, but year-round support for children and families affected by incarceration.
Today, the California program is powered by donors, sponsors, mentors, and volunteers who believe these children deserve encouragement, stability, opportunity, and hope.
This year’s camp is preparing to welcome hundreds of local children and volunteers.
Then came news no nonprofit wants to receive.
Their Camp Supplies Were Stolen
With camp quickly approaching, Camp Agape discovered that a trailer containing supplies intended for the upcoming event had been stolen.
These weren’t simply things sitting in storage.
They were supplies being gathered to create an unforgettable four-day experience for children who have already faced challenges far beyond their years.
When Service Champions learned what had happened through KTLA 5, our team started looking deeper into the organization.
The more we learned, the more we knew we wanted to be involved.
Service Champions Donates $1,000 to Help Camp Agape Rebuild
Our team was honored to meet with Camp Agape California and present the organization with a $1,000 check to help replace some of what was lost.
It’s a small piece of a much larger effort, but that’s also what community is about.
One organization can’t always solve an entire problem.
One company can’t replace everything that was taken.
But one company can help.
Then another person can help.
Then another business.
Then another family.
And suddenly, a community has taken something heartbreaking and turned it into an opportunity to show these children just how many people are standing behind them.
Good Deeds for Free Goes Beyond HVAC and Plumbing
Most people throughout Southern California know Service Champions for air conditioning repair, HVAC maintenance, plumbing services, drain cleaning, water treatment, and heating and cooling installation.
But serving a community has never meant only showing up when someone’s AC stops cooling or a plumbing problem needs to be fixed.
Our Good Deeds for Free philosophy is about looking for opportunities to make someone’s day—or someone’s life—a little better simply because we can.
Sometimes that’s something one of our HVAC technicians does for a homeowner during a service appointment.
Sometimes it’s supporting a family experiencing hardship.
And sometimes it’s hearing about an organization doing extraordinary work and asking:
How can we help?
Camp Is Coming—And They Still Need Our Help
The stolen supplies created an unexpected challenge, but Camp Agape’s mission hasn’t changed.
In just weeks, children whose parents have been absent because of incarceration will arrive for four days designed around friendship, growth, healing, laughter, and hope.
Camp Agape California is actively seeking volunteers, mentors, sponsors, and donors to help make that possible.
Service Champions is proud to contribute $1,000 toward rebuilding what was lost.
Now we’re asking our customers, employees, neighbors, and fellow Southern California businesses to consider joining us.
If you’re able to donate, even a small contribution can help Camp Agape replace its stolen supplies and prepare for the children arriving at camp.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-restore-camp-agapes-stolen-supplies
This Is What Community Looks Like
At Service Champions, we’re incredibly fortunate to serve homeowners throughout Orange County, Los Angeles County, the Inland Empire, and surrounding Southern California communities with HVAC, plumbing, and drain services.
Those communities have supported us for decades.
Giving back is one way we can return that support.
To Jon, Liz, the volunteers, mentors, sponsors, and everyone working behind the scenes at Camp Agape California: thank you for fighting for children who deserve to know their future is bigger than their circumstances.
And to the hundreds of kids getting ready for camp:
We hope you have four incredible days filled with laughter, friendships, adventures, and memories you’ll carry with you long after camp ends.
A stolen trailer may have taken supplies.
It didn’t take away the community standing behind you.
