By Anna Grace Moore
Photos by James Culver
As society is becoming more politically polarizing–entangled with the devastations of this world–a tried and true remedy is returning to nature–symbolic of appreciating life’s little pleasures that are too often taken for granted.
A veteran of breaking news, Verna Gates–whose journalistic accolades include writing for CNN, The Guardian, TIME Magazine, Reuters International and more–has interviewed some of the world’s most influential figures such as President Barack Obama, Secretary Hillary Clinton and the Dalai Lama to name a few. While she started as one of the first 50 founding employees of CNN, Verna’s career took her all over the world, enabling her to cover some of the biggest news stories in history.
With numerous awards, including the 2009 Communicator of Achievement Award from the National Association of Press Women, under her belt, Verna covered breaking stories from the 1996 Olympic bomber Eric Rudolph to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. None, however, gripped Verna’s heart quite like her interviews with ex-prostitutes from the underage sex trade.
“I saw so much horrible stuff–the underage sex trade–the 12 and 13-year-old girls,” Verna says of her 35-year-long career. “The stats are that if any one person believes in a kid, they’ll make it. If you could just teach a child and change a couple of decisions they make, you can change everything.”
Verna says her journalistic vendetta was born that day. The interviews, although heart wrenching, yielded her fervent passion to fight for children, protecting and preserving their innocence.
Twenty years ago, Verna found herself as the president of the Birmingham Wildflower Society. She served in this role for 12 years before leaving to pursue the call of all journalists: To shine a light into the darkness.
At the time, Verna wanted to expand the state wildflower society to include family programs, but she was heavily discouraged. Where life presented a seemingly immovable road block, Verna hurdled over it effortlessly and created what is now known as Fresh Air Family.
Founded in 2006, Fresh Air Family is a nonprofit that provides science education to children and families throughout the state of Alabama and beyond. The organization is most known for its award-winning Gross Out Camps, which are summer camps for children entering first through fourth grade.
With 64 camps across 22 locations, Gross Out Camps served 1,527 children in 2023 alone. Since its inception, the camps have served more than 10,000 children and their families, providing often scholarship-funded opportunities for children to get outdoors, enjoy nature and learn about Alabama biodiversity.
“I enjoy seeing kids come alive, realizing that a whole new world is out there that they’ve never been exposed to,” Verna says. “We’ve got a beautiful world. They will never love what they never see.”
Verna says one of the reasons she started Fresh Air Family is because families quit communicating with one another at the dinner table. Coincidentally, children spend more time today on electronics than they do outside, breathing fresh air.
This correlation between the nuclear family foundation’s silent crumbling and upcoming generations’ lack of environmental awareness proved cause enough for Verna to act. Children are so impressionable, and it alarms Verna that too often are parents not policing their children’s gateway internet access.
With as much childhood devastation as she has seen, Verna says it became her mission to serve families by helping raise children–technology free–in nature. Over the last 16 years of camp, Verna has seen her campers blossom and grow up to become ecologists, veterinarians, biology teachers and more.
Held in June and July, Gross Out Camps take place from Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., but parents can drop off as early as 8 a.m. and pick up by 6 p.m. if in need of extra child care. In 2023, more than $50,000 was awarded in scholarships for kids to attend Gross Out Camps–no kid is ever turned away because of money.
“We have one kid who has been with us since he was 8, and he was a foster child, who came from a very violent household,” Verna says. “He was adopted by an older couple, and our programs helped raise him. His father always tells us how much Fresh Air Family has meant to him because he considers us his family. He is 17 now, and he works for us every summer.”
Verna says she has seen children who struggle with social skills leave camp excited, having made new friends. She has received phone calls from parents crying, thanking her for taking care of their children during some of the hardest times in their lives.
“[Lola] has absolutely loved it, and it has helped her gain confidence,” camper parent Michelle Stallworth says. “She is always outside, looking for things. They learn about the environment, different animals, all these things. She’s become a little junior aficionado when it comes to being outside.”
Lola Smith—Michelle’s daughter—will be attending four weeks of Gross Out Camp this summer. She says she loves camp because she is encouraged to be herself and to enjoy the simple pleasures of being a kid outdoors.
One of Lola’s favorite memories last summer was when she and her fellow conservationists learned to catch tadpoles with their bare hands.
“Gross Out Camp is an amazing camp, and we get to do all sorts of fun, outside things,” Lola says. “We get to go outside in the creek. We get to learn about science and plants and animals. We get to see animals in the real world, not just in pictures or movies. We get to build stuff.”
Salmon, salamanders and snakes–oh, my! Lola has seen–and probably held–them all at camp. Amazingly, each Gross Out Camp is entirely different from the next because each camp is located in such diverse parts of the state.
Gross Out Camps at Oak Mountain State Park typically fill up the quickest as campers spend their days fishing, bird watching, building dams, conducting science experiments and participating in animal shows. Not only are campers having fun outdoors, but they are also learning about advanced topics such as polymers, non-newtonian fluids, creek ecology and more.
Verna says a favorite game campers play every year is the food chain game, which is the most competitive game of freeze tag between “carnivores, omnivores and herbivores” one will ever witness. Depending on which camps children want to attend, they will receive some history lessons, too.
The Jasper-based “fossil hunt” is located at one of the top three, coal-age fossil sites in the world. Verna says children may never have the opportunity to dig up fossils if not given the opportunity to explore outdoors.
“It’s been really great for Lola in the sense that she looks forward to it every year, and it’s not just one thing about Gross Out Camp that she loves,” Michelle says. “The camp is structured enough that they get to learn things, and they’re going to be safe. It’s also unstructured enough that it gives them the opportunity to explore all the things that they find that they’re interested in.”
Looking back, Verna says she is incredibly proud to have played a part in enriching the lives of so many children. The success of Gross Out Camps, she says, is due to the motto that every living thing–whether big or small–must be respected.
By teaching children to love what many take for granted such as fresh air and picturesque views, their innocence is nurtured by the peaceful, steady stream of a creek or wind in the leaves.
“Nature is the greatest teacher—it nurtured the “Greatest Generation”—and now is sharing its secrets with a new crop of children,” Verna says. “Parents can breathe easy, too, knowing kids are enjoying a wholesome childhood experience.”
If children are to grow up in the world their parents have left broken, then it should be the responsibility of every parent to ensure their children can at least enjoy their childhoods for as long as they can.
The best childhood memories–one can bet–will take place outdoors in the company of friends. If there’s one thing Gross Out Camps guarantee, it’s tired, dirty and very happy children.
To learn more information about Fresh Air Family, visit freshairfamily.org. Those interested in registering for Gross Out Camps can do so at grossoutcamp.org.
