Riverside Foundation Hosts 13th Annual Summer Camp for Girls

Twenty-five girls ages five to 10 gathered last month for the 13th annual Camp Sunshine in Jacksonville's Riverside neighborhood, continuing a summer tradition hosted by The Allison Brundick Haramis Foundation – Angels for Allison.

The camp represents more than a decade of consistent youth programming in the historic urban core, where nonprofit community services complement the neighborhood's residential character and help anchor families in one of Duval County's most walkable districts.

What's happening

The foundation hosted Camp Sunshine for the 13th consecutive year in July 2026, serving 25 girls in the 5-to-10 age bracket. The Allison Brundick Haramis Foundation, operating under the Angels for Allison name, has maintained the program since its inception in 2014.

The source document does not specify the camp's duration, specific activities, location within Riverside, or whether the program is free or fee-based. The foundation is named for Allison Brundick Haramis, though the document does not detail the organization's broader mission or funding sources.

Community programs in Riverside

Riverside is one of Jacksonville's most established urban neighborhoods, bounded roughly by the St. Johns River to the north and east, Interstate 95 to the west, and extending south toward the San Marco boundary. The area is characterized by early-20th-century bungalows, a walkable street grid, Five Points commercial district, and Memorial Park along the river.

Youth programming in urban neighborhoods like Riverside typically serves families who choose city living over suburban subdivisions, many drawn by proximity to downtown employment, schools such as Riverside Presbyterian Day School and The Bolles School's San Jose campus nearby, and walkable amenities. Summer camps and after-school programs are a recurring need in neighborhoods where both parents often work and extended family may not be local.

The consistency of Camp Sunshine—13 consecutive summers—suggests stable funding and volunteer commitment, which can be a challenge for small community foundations. Long-running programs often build alumni networks and word-of-mouth enrollment, becoming embedded in the neighborhood's identity.

How youth programs shape neighborhood appeal

Access to local, affordable youth programming is a factor in family decisions about where to live, though its weight varies by household income and parents' work flexibility. Neighborhoods with visible nonprofit activity and volunteer engagement often see stronger social cohesion, which in turn can support property values and business vitality in adjacent commercial corridors.

In Riverside, the Five Points district and the King Street corridor host small retailers, restaurants, and service businesses that depend on residential foot traffic. Families who participate in neighborhood-based programs like Camp Sunshine are more likely to shop and dine locally, strengthening the micro-economy that defines walkable urban neighborhoods.

The presence of a foundation and annual camp also signals philanthropic infrastructure. In growing cities like Jacksonville, where new suburban master-planned communities often debut with their own recreation and events, older urban neighborhoods must cultivate or maintain such amenities to remain competitive for families with children.

Nonprofit capacity in urban Duval County

The Allison Brundick Haramis Foundation is one of dozens of small, neighborhood-focused nonprofits operating across Duval County. These organizations typically lack the endowments or public funding streams of larger institutions, relying instead on individual donors, small grants, and volunteer labor.

For a foundation to sustain a program for 13 years without interruption—including through the COVID-19 pandemic, which disrupted many summer camps in 2020 and 2021—indicates resilience and committed leadership. The open question is whether the foundation has expanded, contracted, or held steady in participant numbers and program scope over that span; the source document does not provide historical enrollment figures.

Youth programs also create volunteer opportunities for high-school students seeking service hours, college students in education or social-work tracks, and retirees. In this way, a camp serving 25 children can engage a broader circle of adults and teens, weaving the foundation more deeply into the neighborhood fabric.

What happens next

The source document does not announce future dates for Camp Sunshine 2027 or provide enrollment information. Families interested in next summer's session would typically need to contact the foundation directly or monitor its communications channels as the 2027 camp season approaches.

Long-running community programs often face succession and sustainability questions as founding volunteers age or relocate. The foundation's ability to continue the camp into a second decade suggests it has navigated those transitions, but the typical lifespan of a small nonprofit's signature program depends on whether it can recruit new board members, diversify funding, and adapt programming to changing community needs.

As Jacksonville grows—particularly in suburban St. Johns and Clay counties—urban neighborhoods like Riverside must continue to offer the programming, schools, parks, and social networks that retain and attract families. Camp Sunshine is one thread in that larger effort, a hyperlocal institution that helps define what it means to live in Riverside rather than on the suburban fringe.

The 13th summer of Camp Sunshine underscores that Northeast Florida's growth story is not only about new rooftops and master-planned communities. It is also about the quieter work of sustaining the urban neighborhoods where the region's history and walkable character endure.