By Joseph Markel

UM alumni Ben Smith and Kayleigh Funderburk are trying to get their workplace some national recognition. They are also a couple!

They work for Camp Fire, a subsidiary of United Way, providing outdoor education and programming for children in Birmingham and Bessemer.

their job is  “like an indoor field trip,” says Kayleigh. They serve about 15,000 students a year.

They also help run the historic Camp Fletcher in McCalla. Created in 1926 by the state’s first African American registered nurse, it started as a place for rehabilitating children with tuberculosis. At the time, doctors thought exercise and fresh air was the best treatment for the disease.

Eventually, it became a program that encourages inner city kids to spend some time in the woods. Through the years, the camp received alot of support from Booker T. Washington and his wife, Margaret Murray Washington.

in 1946, a group of men from the Ku Klux Klan raided the camp because of integrated learning between white girl scouts and black ones. The incident led to the first anti-masking law in the country, and is a talking point for including Camp Fletcher in the national and state registries.

If you’d like to find out more about Camp Fletcher, check out Camp Fire’s website.