This summer marks the 14th year of the Vohokase Cultural Leadership Program, the flagship program of the Light Foundation. In that time, 33 young men have made and completed the four-year commitment to becoming valuable leaders in their lives and within their communities. Our mission is to take these young men out of their own environments and provide them with unique opportunities that will ignite their passion, purpose, and motivation to succeed.
Hometown visits are an important element of the program that Camp Director, Brandon Ervin, makes with each class three times a year. In addition to the weekly check-in calls he makes with these sixteen young men are in-person visits that allow them to bond with one another, get to know our foundation staff, and provide them the chance to give back to their communities through a service project. Vohokase Cultural Leadership Program builds character and lifetime friendships, which is why the hometown visits are so important.
The Darke County class is local to our Ohio headquarters and they have an advantage when it comes to community service opportunities. Each month in the winter, the Light Foundation holds Trail Tribe Days, which is an opportunity for locals to give back to the community through cleaning up the Foundation’s campground. This made for the perfect opportunity to get our Camp Vohokase young men involved in helping prepare our camp for a busy year.
The young men participated in cleaning our yurts where visitors of Chenoweth Trails sleep and getting out furniture and games for the busy camp year! Community service is the most important element to becoming a great leader and instilling that into our Darke County class is important. This project helped the young men give back to their community and learn that selfless acts like this one builds great leadership.
The Light Foundation is filled with great staff that make community service opportunities like Trail Tribe Days happen. Through these community service projects, we can build leadership qualities in Ethan, Dakota, and Chastan as they grow as leaders in their own lives and communities. Their commitment to the Vohokase Cultural Leadership Program is what makes this program so special.
At the conclusion of the project, the young campers left with the seed planted of the importance of community service and what it means to give back to your community through selfless acts. Community service helps these young men grow into the person they want to be and takes them one step closer to achieving what the program is here for: Leadership.
We owe a huge thanks to April Brubaker, Brandi Spille, and the Grounds and Maintenance crew of the Foundation for displaying the kind of leadership skills we hope to instill in our young men as part of the Vohokase Cultural Leadership Program. Being able to model the kind of behavior we expect out of the young people we serve is critical to the success of our work. It is the only way to make a real, lasting impact.
Stay tuned for details on our senior trip to a New Hampshire KOA. Follow our social media accounts or sign up for our newsletters to track upcoming Trail Tribe Days that allow the entire community to participate in this community service event.
