With grateful hearts, we are delighted and honored to share this year’s S’Mores and Pours Co-Chairs!
Erika Feingold is a lifetime educator. While at Tulane University, she earned a degree in elementary education and started her career as an elementary school teacher. Education and the needs of others have been guiding principles in her career path. After raising three children, some of whom faced learning differences, she was tapped by her family to join the family real estate business. Today, she oversees the management and development of a wide range of projects, interacting with architects, contractors, and various members of development staff at the City of Kansas City.
Erika is also on the board of the Morgan Family Foundation, which is how she was initially introduced to Camp Encourage. After receiving a request, she met with Kelly and was extremely touched by the camp, the genuine care and concern of the staff, and their dedication to reaching families and children with ASD. She was so impressed by the program, that she decided to enroll her daughter to experience all that the camp and programming has to offer.
Erika has become an advocate at schools to support and encourage attention to special needs and has counseled and conferred with school professionals to be certain that these needs are addressed.
Marley Velasquez is 17 years old and a senior at Blue Valley North High School. She lives happily with mom and dad while her siblings are in college. Marley has attended Camp Encourage for two years. Some of her favorite things about camp are the wagon rides, swimming, and archery. They love meeting new campers and counselors, as well as seeing old friends at camp. Seeing all of the positivity in the camp brings Marley joy.
