Lighting the Way

In 2017, we began recognizing our most committed and influential volunteer leaders with the Alexandra Allen Light the Way Award. As former campers, these Kudzu alumni have grown up through camp, have typically served on our head staff team and continue to provide invaluable guidance and mentorship for our campers and fellow volunteers.

After honoring our six newest awardees at this year’s Evening Under the Stars, we now have an incredible group of 29 ambassadors with more than 350 years of combined leadership, giving and commitment to Camp Kudzu. We are immensely grateful for their continued dedication to our community.

2022 Light the Way Award Recipients

Megan Carrington has been a camper, volunteer, employee and supporter of Camp Kudzu for more than 20 years, and it led her to her career as a therapist. It has been the greatest honor of her life to return to camp, helping children and volunteers find their strength to overcome challenges.

Jackson Haas recently worked with the leader development program, and he is thrilled to lend a hand wherever Camp Kudzu needs him. He credits camp for helping him become a self-reliant, confident and supported adult, and he relies on his Kudzu network and support system every day.

Katie Haas is constantly inspired by Camp Kudzu, where she gets to witness children with T1D grow, develop new skills, learn from one another and form special bonds each summer. She is thrilled to give back and have a lasting impact on the community that she loves.

Megan Habersham Little has only missed two summers of camp in the past 19 years. She now shares her creative talents as a producer and editor with Camp Kudzu, teaching campers about film, creating mini-movies to help capture and preserve those special camp memories.

Nathan Rogers hasn’t missed a year of camp since 2010, when he was diagnosed with T1D, and Kudzu remains a place where he doesn’t feel different. He loves returning to Camp Kudzu each year to see his friends and give back to the community that has provided so much for him.

SaraBeth Wood first attended camp at age 8, about two months post-diagnosis, and the friendships she made that first week have lasted to this day, 18 years later. Camp Kudzu has taught her that she is not alone in this disease and given her a lifetime of friends turned family.

Past Honorees

2021

LauraKate Buttrill

Jack Nedza

Ashtin Burton

Patrick W. Loeffer, M.D.

Christopher McKnight

Kinan Lagast

2019

Drew Bryant

Gibran Lewis

Katherine Mason

2018

Nicole Bernath

Mindy Bartleson 

Julie Cortes

Erin Dever

Laura Gillespie

Caroline Graff

Brian Starks

Zach Wigham

2017

Kaki Bennett

Jamie Hamilton

Anna Rambo

Katie Rhea

Kelsey Rogowski

Andrew Sturniolo