Richard Sesler honored as AARP Purpose Prize Fellow for founding Camp Blue Skies

Please join us in congratulating founder Richard Sesler on being honored as a 2023 AARP Purpose Prize Fellow!

The AARP Purpose Prize honors individuals age 50 and older using their knowledge and life experience to solve challenging social problems.

"Being an AARP Purpose Prize Fellow has the potential to put Camp Blue Skies in front of millions of people," Dick said. "Those people will know possible campers, or they may want to volunteer at camp."

AARP announced the five 2023 Purpose Prize winners and 10 Purpose Prize Fellows on July 28. The winners and fellows will be honored at an awards ceremony on Oct. 25 in Washington, D.C.

The five winners will each receive $50,000 for their nonprofit organizations, and the 10 fellows will each get $10,000 for their nonprofits. All 15 will also receive a year of support from AARP to help broaden the scope of their organizations’ work.

Camp Blue Skies offers two 5-day, 4-night sessions in North Carolina (early October) and Georgia (mid-March) and weekend camps in South Carolina (November and April). Each session serves 50-70 campers, with over 100 volunteers offering support and assistance. While the campers are away, parents and caregivers get much-deserved respite.

"We hope to expand the number of camps we offer in the next five years to provide more adults with developmental disabilities opportunities to have fun, make friends, and grow more independent and confident," Sesler said. "Being an AARP Purpose Prize Fellow will help us achieve that goal."

Read about the Purpose Prize winners and fellows: https://www.aarp.org/about-aarp/info-2022/purpose-prize-winners.htm