BEDFORD, Pa. (WTAJ) — A four-week long cornhole tournament is raising money for a one of a kind summer camp.
Organizers said Camp Cadet teaches kids about the criminal justice system, while creating positive relationships between them and local law enforcement.
“It gives them the chance to see us not only as role models, but as real people,” Trooper Sam Thomas, who’s been invovled with the camp for 13 years, said.
Camp Cadet is a nonprofit summer camp that shows kids what police and military training is like.
“At the beginning, we hear “I can’t” a lot. At the end, we show them through positive reinforcement that they can do things that they feel they can’t do when they get there,” Thomas said.
All proceeds from the tournament go towards the camp to ensure any kid who wants to can go for free.
“We like to just make it available for anybody that wants to come,” Thomas said.
He added the goal of the program is to teach kids to believe in their abilities and push themselves.
“At the end of it, they see that they can do anything they put their minds to.”
Registration for the tournament is $50 per team. That money, along with a portion of drink sales from Olde Bedford Brewing Company, which is where the tournament is held, goes to Camp Cadet. The tournament will be going on every Wednesday night until June 5, from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m.