Edmund Rice Camps
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Edmund Rice Camps (often referred to as ERC or Eddie Rice Camps) is a charitable volunteer organisation closely associated with the Congregation of Christian Brothers, and inspired by the work of Edmund Ignatius Rice.
The first two 'Edmund Rice' camps took place at Parade College in Melbourne, Australia, in January 1981, as a form of community outreach for the students of Parade, and as a way of sharing the extensive resources of Parade left unused during the Australian summer.[1] These first camps catered for two groups of children: one for at-risk boys from Melbourne, and another camp for refugee children who had escaped with their families from communist Vietnam.
Persons associated with the Christian Brothers helped to spread the concept of these camps to other states of Australia and overseas. The first Edmund Rice Camp in Tasmania took place in January 1985,[2] and the first beyond Australian shores was held near Dunedin, New Zealand in May 1991.[3]
Today
Relatively autonomous Edmund Rice Camps organisations are now active in every state of Australia as well as in New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland, England, and the United States.[4] Camps funded by these permanent groups have taken place in Kenya and Tanzania, and the first Edmund Rice Camp in Kolkata, India took place at the end of November 2006. As of October 2008, ERC Tasmania was fundraising to support a similar initiative in Ghana.