North Star Quest Camp
"Our all female staff is made up of students, moms, community leaders, educators, artists, and health professionals. We bring our unique skills and wisdom to make this camp an unforgettable experience.
We are also all fund-raisers . . . bake-sellers, and car-washers, grant-writers, and resource gatherers. We have to work hard, because we will never turn a girl away for lack of money. NSQ is a 501(c)(3) non-profit operating as a "DreamMaker Program" of the The Ink People Center for the Arts. All donations are tax deductible, and we are eligible for grant funding.
For our campground, we rent the beautiful Mattole Camp & Retreat outside Petrolia CA.
Our Story: North Star Quest Camp, The Beginning
NSQ was founded by a nurse named Karen Moulton in the summer of 1996. The first camp was in August of 1997. Karen noticed that her adolescent daughters and their friends were suffering emotional and spiritual pain in great part due to the commercial, materialistic American culture. From this came a great desire to do something positive in the form of prevention. She attended a workshop by Mary Pipher author of Reviving Ophelia, and awoke the next morning at 2 a.m. inspired by a dream. She would organize a camp for adolescent girls that would offer them strengths and help them tap into their own spirits as sources of strength. She wanted the camp to help them focus on their own internal “North Stars” to help light the way to fulfill their potential.
Other women of all ages who shared this vision joined with Karen for a year to create the ideas for this camp. These women gave openly and freely of their time and talents and love for the spiritual growth of these girls.
North Star Quest is an incredible example of stewardship, spiritual growth and community involvement. It takes many steps of faith in regards to funding, volunteers and just making it come together. NSQ continues on because of the hundreds of women who have shared their time, support, and gifts throughout the years."