Our goal at Grandma's Camp® is to bring children and grandparents and mentors together. The gifts and insight that each person can bring to each other is priceless. Grandma's Camp® is a non-profit corporation formed solely to strengthen the family and moral values of the youth of today. Grandma's Camp® is a charitable and fully qualified tax-deductible organization.

Grandma's Camp® currently offers a 3-day camping experience.

Our Vision

With nature as our backdrop, Grandma's Camp® will provide life-enhancing experiences that cement the intergenerational bonds between grandparents and grandchildren in an effort to develop sound values, positive self-images and an eagerness to learn from one another.

Our Mission

To provide a comforting and peaceful environment through community involvement, challenging outdoor educational activities and quality time for all grandparents and grandchildren or mentors and their extended family.

The Inspiration and Dedication

"When I was a child only the wealthy owned televisions. If you wanted to talk to your best friend, you walked the mile or two to her house. Children were not allowed to use the telephone because everyone had a "party" line. An adventure was walking three miles to the nearest soda shop to buy a nickel scoop of ice cream. Simple pleasures came from catching lightning bugs in a jar, building a fort in the woods, riding your bike around the block until the next bus came, or pretending to be the "Box Car Children" using the local grocery store's discarded wooden crates.

Today, my grandchildren are caught up in television, computers and electronic games of all types. Their idea of an adventure is playing the newest and most difficult video games. If they want to talk to their best friend, they use either their mother's cell phone or in some cases, their own. Simple pleasures come from clicking the channel button on their Dish Network, watching their favorite DVD or just browsing the Internet!

The first time that I decided to take my three year old granddaughter, Skye, and my two year old grandson, Seth, on a hike in the woods, my granddaughter looked up at me with a puzzled expression and asked, "Grandma, what does a hike look like?" That day, fifteen years ago, the seed was planted for what was to become Grandma's Camp®."

Marti Carelli - Gilbert, Founder and Chairman Grandma's Camp®

Grandma's Camp® is dedicated to the memory of Albert Carl Carelli, Jr., my husband and an Offensive Line Coach for Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia, who perished with the football team in 1970 --- and to the memory of all other grandparents who never had the chance to meet their grandchildren.

In 1961 Al Carelli graduated from Gloucester Catholic High School in Camden, New Jersey. On an athletic scholarship, Al played football at Lenoir Rhyne College in Hickory, North Carolina under head coaches, Clarence Stasavich and Hanley Painter. After graduating in 1965, Al joined the teaching and coaching staff at Statesville Senior High School in Statesville, North Carolina under head coach Gene Abercrombie. In 1967 Al attended the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and joined the coaching staff as a graduate assistant coach under head coach Bill Dooley. In February of 1970, after receiving his Master’s Degree in Education, Al accepted the offensive line coaching position at Marshall University in Huntington, WV under head coach Rick Tolley

The story of Al Carelli is captured in the book "HALFTIME"

All proceeds go to Grandma's Camp®