Arizona Burn Foundation receives new funding for Thrive Program

The Arizona Burn Foundation (ABF) was founded by a burn surgeon in 1967. ABF recognizes that burn injuries have lasting, lifelong impacts – so it provides a continuum of care for burn survivors and their families.

Recently, ABF was awarded a $125,000 grant to fund ABF’s Thrive Program, which provides the emotional support needed for burn survivors and their families to thrive. Within the Thrive umbrella, there are several programs, including Leaders in Training, a four-year leadership training program for burn survivors aged 16-20 who have attended Camp Courage.

Rex Albright, CEO of the Arizona Burn Foundation, joined “Arizona Horizon” to talk more about the program and the grant funding it received.

The Arizona Burn Foundation offers five different wellness camps. Each of these camps target a different age group and need that survivors and their families might need.

One of the camps, Camp Courage was founded in 1991 catered to kids 6-19 years-old. The foundation, with the support of a 100+ volunteers taking the group up to Prescott for the week.

With a series of traditional camp activities like swimming, hiking and rope climbing, Albright says that the true purpose of Camp Courage is for survivors to build confidence. Additionally, the encourage the more experienced campers to step up into leadership opportunities, in hopes to give back to the younger campers.

Apart from wellness camps, ABF’s Thrive program also offers scholarship opportunities for survivors 17 and older. Through the MacDonald Wood Scholarship, money can be awarded and put towards any type of continual education past high school.

The last element of the program is social gatherings, where survivors come together and go out to events that some may not normally feel comfortable attending alone. These events include activities like going out to dinner, or even a baseball game. Albright says that it is one of the best things that they do.

“They don’t even remember that they are a burn survivor, they just remember that they are meeting new people and having fun,” Albright said.