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KANAKUK ALUMNI
KANAKUK ALUMNI FAMILY
Kanakuk has welcomed over 500,000 Kampers since 1926, providing a summer home where countless lives are transformed, memories are made, and lifelong friendships forged. Our vision for the Kanakuk Alumni Family is to create lasting connections that ensure these relationships endure far beyond the physical gates of Kamp.
The deep impact of Kanakuk often translates into a desire to stay involved and connected to the community that shaped so many formative years. Association with fellow alumni serves as a vital bridge, keeping the spirit of the Kamp alive throughout the year and across generations. Through organized reunions, regional events, and digital platforms, we provide avenues for former Kampers and staff to reconnect with old friends, share life updates, and even foster new professional networks. This network is designed to sustain the supportive, Christ-centered environment experienced during those precious summer weeks.
By facilitating these enduring bonds, we hope the core values instilled at Kanakuk continue to influence families and communities around the world, reinforcing a legacy of faith, character, and service. This initiative ensures that the Kanakuk experience is not just a seasonal memory, but a lifelong affiliation rooted in shared history and common values.
ALUMNI EVENTS
Our vision is to cultivate an enduring network among Kanakuk Alumni by providing a consistent calendar of connection points throughout the year. We plan to achieve this through varied programming, including localized meet-ups, organized trips, and collaborative service projects. This initiative is designed to maintain lifelong relationships and shared purpose within our alumni family. Please stay tuned, as we will be continuously adding new events and expanding these opportunities to better serve our growing alumni base
SHARE YOUR STORY
Kanakuk Alumni, we want to hear from you! If you’re interested in sharing what your time at Kanakuk meant to you, we would be thrilled to highlight you on our Alumni Spotlight page. We also want to know a little bit about where you are now and how your experience at Kanakuk has shaped your life and relationship with God.
Alumni Testimonies
“I’ve been associated with Kanakuk Kamps for almost thirty years now. This place has given me the opportunity to see men and women live out their faith. They love and follow Christ and they put his word into practice.
To see that on a daily basis in a practical way, that’s something that I haven’t really seen replicated anywhere else in the way that is done at Kanakuk. It’s meant the same to my children because they’ve told me so. They’ve had the opportunity to have other men and women pour into them Godly integrity, character-driven, bible based principles… I can’t say enough about this place. It’s meant so much to my family and me. We love it!”
Brandon Shaw – Alumni
“I went to Kanakuk as a young kid and I was a troubled kid. I got in trouble and got kicked out by Joe White, who told me, You can be a leader for good or evil. It’s your choice. He gave me the opportunity to come back and be the chief of the tribe at Kanakuk by doing the Victor’s Ground Bible study for a year and meeting with my pastor.
I went from going to do an Acapulco spring break trip to stop drinking for five years, gave my life to Christ. I spent a year as the chief. I spent the next summer as a counselor, the next summer at Kids Across America, and it deeply impacted my life and who I am today. I went on to be a Peace Corps volunteer and serve others in the Dominican Republic and then went on to the military as well.
Today I have a mission focused company as a company owner. So our kids all go to Kanakuk and we’re just deeply blessed to have that as part of our experience.“
Edward Crawford – Alumni
“Sending our kids to Kamp started with me going camp. I grew up in Minnesota. Honestly, I’ve never heard of Kanakuk, and my mom told me you’re gonna go to this camp in Missouri for two weeks. And I was like, no, I’m not.
No way. That’s like forever. She was insistent. And, thank goodness she was because I came down and it was the first half of a twenty six day term at K-2.
By the end, I wanted to stay for the second half. And honestly every year was major decisions in my faith and really shaped, my faith and then the faith, even of my brothers and our family, before we got married, we we worked at camp together. So we just knew that when our kids got old enough, if we were able, we wanted them to have the same opportunity to grow in their faith and to make their faith own. What we really love about sending the kids camp is they’re part of a cabin and they serve each other, and they, you know, they’re finding their own faith in that journey as well, which we really love.“
The Matthews – Alumni