CAMP Rehoboth was founded by Murray Archibald and Steve Elkins (right) and an organizing team of volunteers led by Jim Bahr in 1991. The acronym CAMP preceding the name Rehoboth stood for Create A More Positive, meaning creating a more upbeat, welcoming, inclusive Rehoboth Beach. And the acronym’s reference to the community camping it up was a wink to the community as well.

Jim Bahr then formally became the Executive Director of CAMP Rehoboth and Editor of the organization’s newsletter, Letters from CAMP Rehoboth for its first two seasons.  (pictured below with partner and Blue Moon founder Victor Pisapia). 

When Bahr relocated, co-founder and Board member Steve Elkins took the helm as Executive Director. With Murray Archibald as Board President, Founders Elkins and Archibald held those two positions for the following 25 years.

As the organization grew, it continued to live up to its mission by supporting the arts, developing health programs, fighting discrimination, promoting political awareness, hosting sensitivity training, and developing good relationships with the local media, police, government and community.  CAMP Rehoboth interacted with almost all other local non-profits and became woven into the fabric of the community at large.

CAMP Rehoboth saw incredible growth. The initial four-page newsletter became a magazine, adding editorial content, advertising, local and nationally-known writers and photographs, and now routinely has been known to run 120 pages per issue. Instead of being available at a handful of sites, it’s delivered to over 100 businesses and organizations in Southern Delaware and dozens of subscribers.

While Letters from CAMP Rehoboth is perhaps the most visible part of the CAMP Rehoboth operation, its programs cover the arts, health and wellness, sports, charitable service, book clubs, support groups and social events. The roster serves a wide swath of interests and needs. The office is open five days per week and has become an unofficial chamber of commerce and resource center for the Rehoboth area's LGBTQ+ (and allies) residents and visitors. 

CAMP Rehoboth has hundreds of volunteers, raises lots of money for its own operation and other non-profits, lobbies for LGBT equality, and is often called the heart of the community. With the 1991 purchase of 39 Baltimore Avenue—which housed the original CAMP Rehoboth in a tiny office space—and the subsequent acquisition of 37 Baltimore Avenue, the dream of expanding CAMP Rehoboth into a full service community center became a reality. 

Later, a successful capital campaign plus the construction of a new wing and courtyard renovation completed the project in the spring of 2009. The original hallmark of the property, the rainbow fence, had to come down to make way for the new Community Center room, which was later dedicated as the Elkins-Archibald Atrium.

In 2015, CAMP Rehoboth celebrated its silver anniversary and a quarter of a century of “Creating A More Positive” world with “room for all." 

Then, in Spring 2018, came a devastating loss. Executive Director Steve Elkins, having led the organization since the early 1990s passed away from lymphoma. Murray Archibald left the CAMP Rehoboth Board presidency to serve as Interim Executive Director. In the fall of 2019, the Board hired David Mariner as executive director. He provided leadership into and through the COVID-19 pandemic, working with staff and volunteers to continue providing needed services online despite the office shut-down and community quarantines. As things began to quietly open back up, CAMP Rehoboth celebrated its 30th anniversary with an online and in-person photography show featuring three decades of creating a more positive Rehoboth.

With Mariner’s resignation in April 2022, the CAMP Rehoboth Board tapped Lisa Evans to be Interim Director while they mounted a nationwide search for a new executive director. 

In July of 2023, Kim Leisey, PhD, arrived on Baltimore Avenue to take the reins of this now 33-year-old, continually operating non-profit organization working to create a more positive Rehoboth and surrounding areas. CAMP Rehoboth’s logo remains a house with a heart inside—and its vision “to be the heart of the community.” 

As Executive Director Kim Leisey wrote not long ago, “We had over 10,000 attendees to our major events in 2023. Each person, each relationship, each encounter is an opportunity to live our mission to promote cooperation and understanding among all people as we work to build a safer community with room for all.”

Join us.