Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Hope Afield, a local nonprofit working with at-risk youth and their families, is asking community members — especially veterans — to step forward as volunteers for its 2025 summer camp programs, with a focus on an upcoming fishing and horseback riding event on June 24.

The event, which begins at 2 p.m., will take place at Blessings Farm in Butler County and includes outdoor activities followed by a spaghetti dinner.

“We need all the volunteers we can get,” said Ken Kilpatrick, founder of Hope Afield. “We’re thinking we’ll have at least 20 kids and a lot of them have never been fishing before. If we could have enough volunteers to do one-on-one, that would be great.”

Summer programming will be held every Tuesday and Thursday, offering a range of experiences designed to help youth build confidence and life skills through outdoor engagement, animal care and spiritual growth. 

“We realized if we could get these kids outdoors, we could teach them things they can’t learn in a traditional classroom,” Kilpatrick said. “We realized if we didn’t go ahead and do it, we were going to get too old to do it. So, we sold everything in Montgomery and came back to Greenville. We came back in order to do exactly what we’re doing, which is work with at-risk children and their caregivers.”

Kilpatrick and his wife Jan own Blessings Farm, a 162-acre property named in honor of Jan’s parents and uncle, who previously owned the land. The name reflects the couple’s desire to use the land “to the glory of God and to be a blessing to others.” Hope Afield became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in 2016, building on the Kilpatricks’ decades of work with at-risk youth through their previous involvement in Montgomery-based Compassion21.

The farm-based program draws most of its youth participants through referrals from area schools, law enforcement and the juvenile justice system.

“We get a lot of referrals through the educational system or law enforcement,” Kilpatrick said. “We also get referrals from the juvenile justice system for kids that have community service hours. Occasionally, someone will just pull up in our driveway… we help if we can.”

Military veteran Sarah Smith, a volunteer with Hope Afield, recently encouraged fellow veterans to get involved at an American Legion meeting. 

“Veterans make great volunteers because they love their country and the people in it,” Smith said. “We must respect the training they have had and the sacrifices they have made in order to help our world become a better place. Veterans are primarily problem solvers, willing to invest themselves in solving a problem by getting involved.

“This event is part of Hope Afield’s 2025 Summer Camp with the theme: ‘Seeking True Relationship – Trusting Jesus to Guide Us,’” Smith added. “I love watching the kids have so much fun and to see them grow into their best selves through prayer and nature’s lessons taught in the great outdoors at Hope Afield.”

Volunteers interested in assisting with the June 24 event or other summer camp activities can fill out an application online at hopeafield.com.