A year after deadly floods: Foundation launches national parent pledge campaign

By Bethany Blankley
The Center Square

The Safe Summers Foundation has launched a national parent pledge campaign approaching the one-year anniversary of the July 4 historic flood that swept through the Texas Hill Country, killing more than 130 people.

Among those who died were 25 campers and two counselors, referred to as “Heaven’s 27,” who perished at the all-girl’s camp, Camp Mystic, in Hunt, Texas.

After their deaths, a coalition of their parents launched the Campaign for Camp Safety, which later became the Safe Summers Foundation. The foundation is now promoting a Safe Summers Parent Pledge, a nationwide platform designed to enable parents, families, and community members to take an active role in facilitating camp safety.

The goal is to reach 27,000 parents in a nationwide movement, 1,000 times the number of the 27 daughters they lost.

In January, the Campaign for Camp Safety, connected to another group, The Safety Navigator, launched a new partnership, the Safe Summers Fund, The Center Square reported. The fund was designed to help nonprofit summer camps “make meaningful, risk-based safety improvements that protect children and strengthen camp safety systems” in compliance with new laws. It provides a free service to help camps navigate new legal requirements and “translate safety requirements into real-world action.”

So far, $232,000 has been awarded to nonprofit summer camps in Texas to implement new safety standards, serving more than 25,000 campers this year, the groups said.

The foundation also published a “Know Before You Go: A Parent’s Guide to Camp Safety” resource to help families inquire about a camp’s safety plans, stay engaged before and during the camp season and support stronger safety practices. The focus is on “prevention, preparation, and protection while preserving the joy and tradition of summer camp.”

“The Safe Summers Parent Pledge is about helping families become informed, constructive partners in the camp safety conversation,” Chief Development Officer of Safe Summers Foundation Murphey Sears said. “Parents should know what questions to ask, and camps should be supported in putting strong safety practices in place. When families and camps work together, our children and youth are better protected.”

The Campaign for Camp Safety has already helped advance camp safety reforms in Texas, Alabama, Oklahoma and Missouri, it says.

“What began as an urgent campaign in Texas has grown into a broader effort to make camp safer for every child,” Safe Summers Foundation cofounder Blake Bonner said. “We believe deeply in summer camp and in the life-changing experiences it gives children. Our goal is to help ensure that camps have the tools, resources, and safety practices they need so that when risks arise, staff are prepared, children are protected, and families can send their children to camp with the same confidence as any other childcare center.”

The Bonners lost their daughter, Lila, at Camp Mystic. They were among multiple parents who filed wrongful death lawsuits against the camp alleging gross negligence.

The Texas legislature held emergency hearings related to the lack of preparedness and response in the county and learned three men charged with ensuring the safety of residents were “unavailable” on the day disaster struck, The Center Square reported.

Last October, the legislature launched a separate investigation into Camp Mystic failures and the actions taken by its owners, members of the Eastland family.

In April, investigators hired by the legislature presented their findings, arguing the Eastlands had created “a complacent flood culture.” State lawmakers also expressed outrage and astonishment that one of the owners, a registered nurse, Mary Liz Eastland, never reported the deaths of the girls as required by law, The Center Square reported. Not soon after, the Texas Board of Nursing subsequently suspended her license, later removing some restrictions.

State lawmakers also expressed alarm, citing multiple deficiencies in an application the Eastlands filed with the state to reopen the camp this summer despite multiple lawsuits by parents and three investigations into them. State lawmakers said the camp should not reopen while the investigations were ongoing and also vowed that they would do everything they could to ensure that the Eastlands never had any oversight of children again.

Three investigations into the camp included the state legislature’s, a criminal investigation by the Texas Rangers and an investigation by the Texas Department of State Health Services after hundreds of complaints were filed. The later two are ongoing.

The state legislative investigation concluded that the Eastlands didn’t follow the law, didn’t have a written evacuation plan in place, evacuated themselves instead of the children, among other findings. Not soon after the official report was published and unanimously adopted by the legislature, the camp filed for bankruptcy last month, The Center Square reported.

The state legislature is still considering additional measures to improve flood safety and emergency management processes after implementing camp safety reforms statewide, which are now in effect.