Chicago is home, and it is where most of our work will happen. Our first Chicago camps begin Thanksgiving weekend 2026, and the plan for the year ahead covers four parts of the city.

How a neighborhood gets chosen

1. Need. A state reinvestment area or a federal dental shortage area, with elementary schools within walking distance.
2. A place to play. An affordable gym, with a second room alongside it for the health station.
3. Community. Coaches, teachers, dental professionals and neighbors who want to build something for children together.
4. Safety. A day that works for sixty children, the volunteers and the families.

The four areas

• Austin and Belmont Cragin. Our first camp, Thanksgiving weekend 2026. Seven elementary schools with about 4,500 students within a mile, 79 percent of them low income, inside a federally designated dental shortage area.
• Hermosa and Humboldt Park. Dense, young, largely Spanish-speaking, and short of dental offices that take a child’s insurance.
• Albany Park and Avondale. One of the most linguistically diverse areas in the United States, where a form in the family’s own language makes all the difference.
• Rogers Park, Edgewater and the Near North. Where a great gym and a high-need block are sometimes four streets apart.

What a camp brings to the neighborhood

Sixty children, six teams of ten, one afternoon. Four sport stations, the Smile Zone for the dental lesson, and the Wellness Station for water, eating well and mindfulness. It is free to every family, and every child goes home with their team shirt, a hygiene kit and a short list of nearby dentists who told us they would see them.

Every camp is a Community Collaboration: a gym, a school, a dentist, local coaches and the businesses whose names go on the shirts.

It started on a court in Pampanga

Our first camp ran in November 2025 in Mabalacat, Pampanga, in the Philippines: three elementary schools, six local coaches and sixty children on one neighborhood court. Chicago gets the same day, built by Chicago neighbors.

Live in one of these neighborhoods? Join the camp list and we will email you when registration opens. Have a gym, or a business nearby? Host a camp or put your name on the shirts.

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