Camp Hillcroft Day Camp

International Children's Festival

Here's what our Families are Saying!

Parent of 6th and 8th grade children, 5th and 7th Summer at Hillcroft

My children have been going to Camp Hillcroft since they were in 1st grade. This year they will be returning as 6th and 8th graders, and are JUST as excited as they were the first time they went. As a parent, I couldn’t be any happier. My kids have very different personalities (one is shy, one is very outgoing) and they both come home each day happy, engaged and exhausted:) From swimming and crafts, to farming and zip lining, Hillcroft has it all! Most importantly, it is extremely well run, and I have the utmost confidence in their safety and well-being while there.

What is International Children’s Festival (ICF)???  It is the Festival of the heart…the Festival of feeling and giving to others less fortunate than ourselves. We firmly believe that our campers are not too young to learn about issues which face others less fortunate - poverty, hunger, illness, homelessness.  Why do we have ICF???    More than 80 years ago, during a very harsh winter, a little boy and his family and their entire Austrian village were probably spared from starvation by the arrival of food, clothing and medical supplies. The little boy remembered that the relief boxes, decorated with a Red Cross, came from America. The boy never forgot what saved his life.....and since that time has helped hundreds of young people to consider ways of reaching out to others in need. That little boy was Louis Buttinger, Greg's Grandpa. Had the food  and clothes packages not arrived....there would be no Hillcroft. We spend 2 days where we aim to empower our campers with the thought process that even though they are young they can do something to help others who are in need. Our Festival culminates in a camper-run carnival. All money raised at the carnival is donated to the ICF charities which the children vote on. These are all charities which help children in need. ICF truly IS the festival of the heart!!!