Matt Decker
FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. (June 22, 2021) The Fort Leonard Wood Commissary will host a virtual ProCamps Military Youth Football Camp in July, thanks to the efforts of thousands of shoppers, patrons and supporters, who voted in a contest held by the Defense Commissary Agency.
“Thank you so much for helping us bring this camp to the kids of Fort Leonard Wood,” said Rachelle Davidson, Fort Leonard Wood Commissary officer. “We had close to 4,000 votes.”
The camp is scheduled to be webcast at 1 p.m. July 17 at https://www.facebook.com/procamps.
Davidson said that because the program is virtual, anybody with access to Facebook can view the event, which is free and open to the public.
“There are no limits to the number of people — or any age limits — on who can participate in the event,” Davidson said. “The more the merrier. Everyone is welcome. Even if family and friends are located elsewhere, they are still welcome to join in the fun.”
The virtual camp will be led by Green Bay Packers running back Aaron Jones, who knows a thing or two about growing up in a military family. Jones’ parents are both military retirees — his father served as a command sergeant major, and his mother as a sergeant major.
The event will also include a video contest. Children ages 7 to 11 can enter the contest by submitting videos of themselves “training like a pro.” Four winning entries will be selected and shared during the virtual camp.
To enter the video contest, participants must fill out registration forms available at the Exchange and the Commissary. The deadline to enter is June 25.
“We have sign-ups at both the Commissary and the Exchange,” Davidson said. “Two children will be selected from each location, so we’ll have a total of four winners.”
The ProCamps program regularly pairs pro athletes with young players in multiple sports across the country. Normally, camps charge up to $200 per player per event, but through the DeCA contests, commissaries can compete to host a camp for their community free of charge.
To win the camp, Fort Leonard Wood shoppers at the Commissary and the Exchange earned votes by purchasing designated products from February through mid-April. Patrons could also vote by texting “Fort Leonard Wood” to a special number.
This is the second time the Fort Leonard Wood Commissary has won the contest: It also won in 2018, when it hosted an in-person camp with then-Cincinnati Bengals tight end Tyler Eifert at Gerlach Field.
Starting last year, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in-person camps became virtual events. With multiple camps held nationwide, this year, the status of in-person camps is still being determined on a case-by-case basis, with many being held virtually.
For more information about this year’s camp, call the Commissary at 573.596.0783.
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About Fort Leonard Wood
Fort Leonard Wood is a thriving and prosperous installation that has evolved from a small basic training post more than 75 years ago to a premier Army Center of Excellence that trains more than 80,000 military and civilians each year.
Fort Leonard Wood is home to the U.S Army Maneuver Support Center of Excellence and three U.S. Army schools: the U.S. Army Engineer School; U.S. Army Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear School; and the U.S. Army Military Police School. In addition to training engineer, CBRN and military police specialties for the Army, Fort Leonard Wood also provides gender-integrated in-processing and Basic Combat Training for new Soldiers.
Fort Leonard Wood also hosts and trains with the largest Marine Corps Detachment and Air Force Squadron on any Army installation as well as a large Navy construction detachment.
More information about Fort Leonard Wood is at: https://home.army.mil/wood/index.php/about/mission