About

At Camp Odayin, our mission is to provide fun, safe and supportive camp experiences and community building opportunities for young people with heart disease and their families.

Kids play. Worries rest. Fun happens.

Camp is Life-Changing

Our goal is to improve the quality of life, mental health, and overall well-being of children with heart disease and their families. We provide a fun and adventurous environment for these children and their families that includes:

Three campers covered in colored powder

Safety: Giving parents and children peace of mind knowing medical precautions are in place. The camp environment is intentionally staffed and equipped to meet the unique needs of the heart family.

Community: Creating a sense of community and reducing the degree of isolation children with heart disease and their families can experience by connecting them with others who share similar health, emotional, and social concerns.

Personal growth: Engaging campers in empowering activities that improve their self-concept, self-confidence, independence, and social skills and contributing to their capacity to lead full and active lives.

Inclusion: Fostering an increase in diversity, equity, and inclusion among our heart family by identifying and minimizing barriers to participation.  We recognize that families of a child with heart disease manage additional emotional and economic stress.  Our Pay-What-You-Can (PWYC) model for camp registrations supports our commitment to make our programs accessible to everyone in our community.  There is a $50 registration fee per camper and there is always an option to pay $0.

Everyone is Welcome

Our mission is based on:

  • a holistic approach to healing hearts,
  • a desire to nurture and develop independence, confidence, and acceptance,
  • the importance of a sense of community among our heart family, and
  • an emphasis on having fun and celebrating life!

We are committed to creating a safe space where campers, staff, and volunteers feel welcomed, respected, and valued.  We are dedicated to promoting equity in our programming and in our organization. We welcome people of any race, color, creed, religion, national origin, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, or socioeconomic status. We ask our Camp Odayin family and our entire community to join us in an ongoing commitment to reject hate, racism, and intolerance. If you see an opportunity where we can learn (or unlearn) we appreciate you bringing it to our attention.

We are an independent 501c3 nonprofit, unaffiliated with any hospital or parent organization. Many of the camp sites we rent for our programs hold religious values. We do not share or incorporate any religious practices into our camp programs. We lead with our hearts and our programs are shaped by The Odayin Way.

“My daughter said she made new friends and felt a sense of inclusion with same-aged peers at Camp Odayin. This is something she has not experienced in the school setting with same-aged female peers. It was so refreshing and heartwarming to hear her talk about feeling included and not left out.”

Parent of a 12 year old camper

Our Campers’ Special Hearts

The majority of our campers with heart disease were born with a congenital heart defect (CHD). According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), congenital heart defects are the most common type of birth defect, affecting nearly 40,000 births in the United States each year. Watch the following video to learn more about CHD from our MN Medical Director and Mayo Clinic Pediatric Cardiologist Jon Johnson, M.D.

Stay up-to-date with Camp Odayin!

Camp Odayin: For Children with Heart Disease

We provide fun, safe and supportive camp experiences and community building opportunities for young people with heart disease and their families. 

We welcome people of any race, color, creed, religion, national origin, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status.

Great Nonprofits: Top-Rated Nonprofit
Seal of Transparency Platinum from GuideStar
Charities Review Council Meets Standards

Contact Us

Office Address

  • 3503 High Point Drive North
  • Suite 250
  • Oakdale, MN 55128