December 9, 2022

For most of my adult life, I have kept a small paperweight on my desk that reads, “Every wall is a door.”  We all need …

July 27, 2022

Hannah Puma’s AYF experience began when she was a small child, running around Miniwanca as her mom worked at camp for multiple summers. She couldn’t …

May 17, 2022

Upon joining City Year AmeriCorps, each member is presented with a red jacket, which they dedicate to a person, idea, or cause that inspires them …

April 22, 2022

The American Youth Foundation has played a pivotal role in DD Danforth-Burlin’s life. The four-fold way of living has steered her through her youth as …

March 22, 2022

by Dana Rieck High school physics teacher Robert Pike works hard to learn his students’ names within the first three days of each semester, so …

February 18, 2022

by Dana Rieck National Leadership Conference participants were finally able to gather on the dunes of Miniwanca once again in 2021, albeit in a new, …

January 25, 2022

While the COVID-19 pandemic brought many losses, it also ushered in new methods for creating community using virtual tools instead of live gatherings. One such …

December 8, 2021

For the first time in more than a year, a familiar sound could be heard across the dunes of Miniwanca and the valleys of Merrowvista: …

November 17, 2021

After a long year of wait and worry, the bells of Miniwanca and Merrowvista finally rang once again this summer. They signaled much more than …

April 21, 2021

Daniel Gottshall, 10, was disappointed when he found out the American Youth Foundation would not be able to welcome campers to Miniwanca in 2020. His …

December 15, 2020

Eight-year-old Kate Hampson had returned home to River Forest, Illinois after her first summer at Miniwanca in 2013. Almost every day, she watched a group …

December 15, 2020

Since the summer she spent on the sand dunes of Miniwanca in 2013, Taylor Eldridge has become an investigative journalist who has written award-winning work …