Latest news with #CampMystic
CBS News
6 hours ago
- Entertainment
- CBS News
North Texas teen turns heartfelt song into flood relief for Central Texas
A North Texas teenager is using her love for music — and her heart for others — to help victims of the deadly flooding in Kerr County. Seventeen-year-old Charlotte March, of University Park, has loved music all her life, sharing her songs as an extension of her emotions. "Whenever I sing, I sing with emotion," March said. "It's kind of like a way of drawing out the emotions that I'm feeling." March's other passion is Camp DeSoto, a Christian summer camp in Alabama she's attended since age 9. Because the camp meant so much to her, she wrote a song about it titled "Sunday Lunches and Fairy Houses." "It's about the feeling of those experiences," she said. "How that Sunday meal made it feel like home. How the fairy houses made you remember your childhood." Just days after releasing the song, catastrophic flooding struck Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp in Kerr County, killing 27 girls and staff members. Many of the victims were neighbors of the March family in the Park Cities. "I know that camp. I know people who went there," March said. "It was a really emotional moment for me. I kept thinking, 'What if this had happened to my camp?'" The tragedy hit even closer to home — March's grandfather and his wife live in Kerrville. Their home was spared, but many of their friends were deeply affected. "I thought, 'What can I do to help aid these people?'" she said. "And then it came to my mind — I could use my song." March is donating all proceeds from her song on iTunes to flood victims in Kerr County. She's also matching every dollar with her own savings and giving it all to Texans on Mission, the organization her grandfather is a member of. "I wrote this song at the exact right time," she said. "I released it at the exact right time." With each verse and donation, the lyrics — once written as a love letter to camp — have become a lifeline to families forever changed by tragedy. "There's hope, there is future, there is life," March said. "And as long as there are those three things, we can continue and move on, no matter how hard things have gotten." Charlotte's song, "Sunday Lunches and Fairy Houses," is available on iTunes and Apple Music. All proceeds go to flood relief efforts in Kerr County. March said she is working with Apple to track how much has been raised so far.
Bloomberg
2 days ago
- Health
- Bloomberg
Is Summer Camp a Petri Dish for Measles?
This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, the nation's foremost peddler of Bloomberg Opinion's opinions. Sign up here. In 2025, summer camp — traditionally a time for kids to unglue themselves from their screens and be one with nature — has been hijacked by a series of unfortunate events. Between the deadly floods at Camp Mystic and the worst measles outbreak since the early 1990s, the list of parental nightmare scenarios seems to be growing longer by the day.
Bloomberg
2 days ago
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Camp Mystic Girls' Deaths Darken a Cherished Texas Rite of Passage
Camp Mystic was the totemic rite of passage for girls from establishment families in the American South: Lyndon Johnson sent his daughters there, Laura Bush worked there as a counselor years before becoming First Lady, and its alumni include the children of at least three Texas governors. It evoked such a potent mix of nostalgia, tradition, religious faith and camaraderie that parents rushed to get their daughter's name on its coveted waiting list as soon as she was born. But after the deadliest floods in Texas history ripped through Mystic and killed 27 campers and counselors this month, its foundations are in shambles and questions are being raised over how it became so vulnerable to disaster.
Gulf Today
2 days ago
- General
- Gulf Today
Camp Mystic girls raise thousands for Texas flood aid
Coco Grieshaber, an 8-year-old Camp Mystic alumna, threaded beads into a homemade bracelet at her dining room table, sharing memories of the Texas summer camp that she left four days before flooding devastated the area on Fourth of July weekend. She chose pink and green beads, while her 11-year-old sister Max, another Camp Mystic alumna who attended the camp in prior years, chose various shades of purple for the bracelets they were selling to raise money for a camp staffer who was impacted by the flood, according to the Tribune News Service. A pile of finished bracelets that read 'Mystic' were scattered in between them, the word book-ended by beads with crosses or hearts. Outside their home in Fort Worth's Tanglewood neighborhood, a 'Praying for Mystic' yard sign quotes a Bible verse: the book of John, chapter one, verse five. 'The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.' Coco and Max are among several Fort Worth children with connections to Camp Mystic who are making and selling homemade jewelry to raise money for the Christian summer camp for girls in Central Texas, which is still reeling from the loss of 27 campers and counselors. Gov. Greg Abbott said this week 101 people remain missing statewide, and 131 people have been pronounced dead, mostly in the Kerr County area, where the Guadalupe River rose by more than 25 feet in the middle of the night. Coco first sold 50 bracelets through a lemonade stand last week with her friends and fellow campers Audrey and Elizabeth Hernandez, who are 8-year-old twins, she said. They sold more than $3,000 worth of bracelets in one day, selling them for as much as buyers were willing to give, in addition to lemonade, cookies and painted crosses. They've continued to get requests through word of mouth, raising an additional $1,500 in the past week. Candace Hernandez, Audrey and Elizabeth's mother, said her twin daughters have been making bracelets this week in Maui during a family vacation, as other travelers noticed the girls making them by the pool and put orders in. There have been at least 30 bracelets sold on the second largest island in the Hawaiian archipelago. 'I'm so proud of them for doing what 8-year-olds can do, and coming up with an idea and putting it all together and putting it into motion to do something good to help,' Candace Hernandez said. 'Our hearts ache for those parents that didn't get to be reunited with their daughters, and our faith reassures us that they are safe in heaven with Jesus.' The funds are being donated to Cassie Wilson, a former camper turned camp employee whose home was damaged and car was lost to the flood and who is grieving the loss of loved ones, according to Coco and Max's mother, Kayt Grieshaber. 'Most of us know her as the photographer who brings us so much joy of our girls at camp,' Kayt Grieshaber said. 'We all looked daily for photos of our girls. Cassie was our communication line, our way of checking in on if it was a happy smile or homesick smile or living-their-best-life smile. Took this for granted but forever thankful.' Kayt Grieshaber said the flood has hit close to home, especially with picking up her youngest daughter Coco a few days before it happened. Coco was at the Cypress Lake part of the camp, which is referred to as 'new camp,' while the Guadalupe River part of the camp is referred to as 'old camp.' 'You hate to have those things go through your head, but just what if? And you know, it could have been her. She was at Cypress Lake and wasn't at Guadalupe River, but just the magic of the camp and seeing the images of it just being destroyed, it's heartbreaking,' she said. 'It just makes you sick to your stomach.' Coco Grieshaber said she wants the impacted families to know that God is watching over them during this difficult time. 'God is right beside them, and people are praying,' said Coco, who attended Camp Mystic for the first time this year with Audrey and Elizabeth.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Climate
- Yahoo
Number of missing in deadly Texas floods drops to three
The number of people missing in Texas after devastating floods hit the state has dropped from 160 people to three, officials said. The flash floods following a torrential downpour on 4 July killed 135 people in, including children at Camp Mystic, a Christian all-girls' summer camp along the Guadalupe River. Dozens of others were reported missing. But on late Saturday, the city of Kerrville, at the heart of the disaster, reported that many had been verified as safe. Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice said that it took "countless hours of coordinated search and rescue operations, careful investigative work, and an unwavering commitment to bringing clarity and hope to families". In a Facebook post, the city said ,000 federal, state and local officials had worked "tirelessly" to track down the missing and that search teams were now reuniting them with their families. Kerrville Mayor Joe Herring, Jr. said in the post: "Our thoughts remain with the families still awaiting news, and we will continue to stand with them as efforts persist." Earlier this week, officials said the number of people who were missing had fallen from 160 to 100 in Kerr County - the hardest hit area - and nearby areas thanks to the help of thousands of rescuers. Officials said many people who were initially reported as missing had been verified as safe and were removed from the list. At Camp Mystic, at least 27 campers and counselors died after the Guadalupe River flooded from the torrential rains. The river rose 26ft (8m) in the span of just 45 minutes as young children, staff and residents slept in homes along the river. In the wake of the deadly tragedy, questions were raised about whether adequate warnings were provided and why camps weren't evacuated ahead of the deluge. Experts have said a number of factor led to the deadly impact of the flash flood, including the pre-dawn timing, the location of some homes, the patchwork of cell service and its overall speed and severity. President Donald Trump visited the wreckage last week to express his "love and support" for those who had been affected, dismissing questions about whether more could have been done to warn residents. Texas floods death toll climbs to at least 107 'Hero' dad, twin girls and riverside campers among Texas flood victims
