Staff Report
Rotary’s Camp Florida, located in Brandon, recently named Liz Fields as its new Executive Director, a position currently filled by Interim Director Ed Johns.
Fields comes to the camp with extensive non-profit experience having previously led Habitat for Humanity of Hillsborough County and Suncoast Harvest Food Bank. With a strong background in facilities management, her passion has always been ensuring people with disabilities have equal opportunities.
Born one of four sisters in Cornwall, England, Fields received her degree in accounting from Falmouth Technical College in Cornwall. She moved to London to work for Credit Suisse First Boston. It was during her bank tenure that her passion for volunteerism blossomed and she implemented the A Pound Is Profound program at the bank. Employees gave one pound (currency) of their income per 1,000 earned and the income from this program allowed her bank to build two of the largest accessible homeless shelters in London.
She moved to the U.S. after visiting several times on vacation. Recently she assisted with the formation of a non-profit – P.A.H. Outreach to increase awareness of a rare disease; Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension. Fields has served on boards of the Life Enrichment Center, Self Reliance, Inc., People With Aids Coalition, the Council for Exceptional Children and the National Humane Society. Fields also has a love for animals and has three rescues puppies and three birds, all with special needs.
While Fields does not live on the camp grounds, she feels at home while there.
“It’s quiet here during the week,” she said. “It’s just a serene place with buildings. But it completely livens up when the children get here and their sounds of laughter fill the camp.”
Fields goal as the new Executive Director is to see an increasing number of user groups for both children and adults with disabilities. In the past, the camp has been geared toward children, but Fields hopes they will be able to provide more services for adults with the help of community partners.
Rotary’s Camp Florida, a 501(c)(3) corporation, is a statewide project of Rotary Clubs throughout Florida and is located on 22 acres of lakefront property. Creating a “barrier-free” facility for children with special needs was the goal of Florida Rotarians, and currently the camp hosts user groups that support children and adults with cancer, Muscular Dystrophy, Brittle Bone Disease, Autism and many other challenges.
For more information on Rotary’s Camp Florida, visit rotaryscampflorida .org, e-mail rotarycampflorida@verizon.net or call 654-4042.
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