2026 Camp Rice: Friends of Korea
A fun and safe place for families, teens, children of adoptees, and adult adoptees!
Korean Culture Family/Teen Camp/and Adult Adoptee Only Track
July 23-25, 2026 (Thursday 9:00 a.m. through Saturday 1:30 p.m.)
Pearlstone Conference and Retreat Center
5425 Mt. Gilead Road
Reisterstown, Maryland 21136
Registration for 2026 Camp Rice is now open for Campers!
Early bird rate ends on February 22, 2026.
The camp fee is $640 per person ($610 early bird rate if registered by February 22, 2026). Families registering four or more campers receive a 20% discount on the registration fee for the 4th and 5th camper only. This discount does not apply to the first three campers.
You are invited to ASIA Families' Annual Retreat, taking place from July 23 to July 25 2026 (Thursday, 9:00 a.m. through Saturday, 1:30 p.m.).
This year, Camp Rice embraces the theme: Friends of Korea.
Through fun activities, they'll flourish and grow, connecting with others, letting their spirits glow. May they stand as bridges, enduring and wide, the legacies of Korea and the US, side by side.
Our programs are designed to accommodate a wide range of participants. We have separate family and teen camps, ensuring that there's something for everyone. The family camp provides engaging activities for school-age children aged 3 and above, as well as for adults, including adoptive parents and adult adoptees.
We are thrilled to announce that we will continue to offer the adult adoptee only track through partnership with Dr. Hollee McGinnis and Ms. Kim Sue Stevens.
Who should Attend?
All adoptive families with Korean children of varying ages and their siblings are wholeheartedly invited to participate.
Adult adoptees and their children
Non-adoptive siblings and children from countries other than Korea
Veteran parents of grown Korean adoptees who wish to learn, grow, and provide continued support for their children's adoptee journey.
Rooming Arrangements at Camp
Adults and young children, ranging from PreK to rising 8th graders, stay together in hotel-style rooms. Parents of the young campers must register and stay overnight at the campsite with their children.
Our Teen Camp takes place within the same facility, but it is located in a separate section of the retreat center.
Teens entering 8th grade and above are considered teen campers.
Rising 8th graders share rooms with their parents or legal guardians.
Campers in 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th grades room with their fellow teen campers. Parents of 9th through 12th graders are not required to register or stay at the camp, although we warmly welcome them to join us and experience Camp Rice together.
Adult adoptee-only track campers will be paired with another adult adoptee as their roommate.
Accommodations and location
Pearlstone Conference and Retreat Center, located in Reisterstown, MD, is conveniently situated just 20 minutes from Baltimore. Our accommodations for family campers are designed for comfort, offering hotel-style rooms complete with linen services. Each room is equipped with a private bathroom, including a shower, and has the capacity to sleep up to 6 people. Most rooms feature two double-sized beds and provide ample space for rollaway beds or cribs, which we can arrange for, as needed (please refer to the registration form). All of our lodges are equipped with air-conditioning for your comfort.
To ensure a restful night's sleep, a set of linens will be provided for each sleeping camper. Pearlstone takes pride in serving delicious home-cooked meals prepared in a kosher kitchen. We are also equipped to accommodate food allergies with our menu offerings. Notably, our Center boasts a 5-acre farm on-site, which supplies fresh produce to our kitchen.
For more information about our camp facility, we invite you to visit their website at Pearlstone Center. Additionally, free wireless Internet services are available in the main building for your convenience.
Schedule and Program
Check-in/Registration will begin at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, July 23, 2026. We will all gather at 10:30 a.m. for Welcome and Announcements. Morning classes on the first day will begin at 10:50 a.m.
On the last day, we host a closing ceremony at 12:30 p.m.
During the classes, children will be supervised by adult adoptee counselors and Korean-American young adults.
Parents need to pick up their children for meals, free time, and performances and presentations at our large group gathering space.
Typical Camp Schedule
Thursday
Check-in starts at 9:00 a.m. (Leave your suitcases in your car.)
Classes begin at 10:50 a.m.
Lunch
Classes
Free time at 4:00 p.m. (swimming pool opens at 4:00 p.m. to 6:00pm)
Room Check-in at 4:00 pm (Please be aware of the late room check in time)
Dinner
Welcoming event/opening ceremony
Friday
Breakfast
Classes
Lunch
Classes
Free time at 3:00pm (swimming pool opens 3:00pm to 5:00pm)
Dinner
Performances
Saturday
Breakfast
Check out /Key Return by 10:00 a.m.
Classes
Lunch
Closing ceremony at 12:30 p.m.
Camp ends at 1:30 p.m.
Teen Program
Campers aged from 8th to 12th grade will be joining our program specifically designed for teens. Our teen program curriculum includes various classes and workshops that focus on integrating Korean culture, building leadership and teamwork, delivering structured role modeling, supporting personal growth by accommodating a safe and trusting environment, and most importantly, providing fun activities and memories for the teens to treasure.
What age is considered a teen camper?
Teen campers are students who are rising 8th grade through 12th grade by Fall of 2026.
Teen campers who are rising 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th grade, will be lodging in Garden Lodge with other teen campers. Teen campers of rising 11th graders through 12th graders can be dropped off at camp alone for the weekend if the parents are unavailable to participate in the camp.
Teen campers rising 8th graders, will be lodging with their parent(s) in hotel-style rooms although they will be fully participating in the teen program. Therefore, full registration and physical presence of parent(s) of rising 8th graders are required for their teen to participate in the teen program.
If you have a teen camper and younger campers, it is recommended that your teen campers stay with other teens if your family will be staying overnight at the camp. We have had birth siblings who came to our camp in the past. It is their choice if they would like to join the teen program or family camp program.
Adult Program
Adoptive parents are encouraged to participate in our adult program, tailored to offer enrichment workshops, networking opportunities, and, of course, enjoyable activities. In the past, our adult program has featured engaging sessions with keynote speakers, Q&A sessions with adoptee panels, and opportunities to explore Korean culture through small group activities. These activities may include, but are not limited to, cooking, arts and crafts, and field projects.
adult Adoptee track
"Healing with our Ancestors" Adult Adoptee Program at Camp Rice with
Hollee McGinnis aka Lee Hwa Young and Kim-Sue Stevens
a body, heart, and soul journey of re•clamation and re•indigenizing ourselves to our ancestral wisdom
“Theme: A Journey of Friendship”
"Healing with Our Ancestors" is an adult adoptee program developed by Korean adoptee Hollee McGinnis, PhD, and co-facilitated with Kim-Sue Stevens that will be offered at Asia Families' annual Camp Rice. This program for adult adoptees is intended to be a space for us to re•claim those parts of us that were taken, abandoned, or forgotten and re•indigenize ourselves to our inner truths and ancestral wisdom. This year’s theme invites us to walk a path of friendship, coming to befriend ourselves, each other, and the world.
Set within the context of Asia Familie's Camp Rice for Korean adoptive families, this program is unique for adoptees who may want to bring their children to a Korean culture camp, or who are looking to experience a retreat space for their growth and meaning of being adopted. During our time we will engage in various contemporary mind, body, and energetic practices rooted in ancestral wisdom from Asia and South Korea to harmonize and integrate various parts of ourselves: East and West, suffering and joy, mind and heart, body and spirit, logic and intuition, giving and receiving, doing and being.
We will engage in activities that will explore who we are, the parts we are ready to set down, reconnect with those parts we had lost so we can feel more whole, and show up the way we want to be in the world.
What you will experience during the "Healing with Our Ancestors" adult adoptee program at Camp Rice:
Facilitated discussions on adoption consciousness, adoption and racial microaggressions, and trauma responses.
Meditating with the breath to calm the nervous system
Art journaling to uncover our inner friend
Cultivating inner compassion
Making pogi (whole napa) cabbage kimchi
Korean tea ceremony and meditation with our ancestors
Korean ritual practices and connections with nature
Conversations on adulting as adoptees: parenting, aging, health, etc.
About Hollee:
My name is Dr. Hollee McGinnis, also-known-as Hwa Young Lee. I am a Korean transracial transnational adoptee, adopted at the age of three and raised in an Irish-Catholic family. In 1996 I founded the adult intercountry adoptee organization Also-Known-As, Inc. in New York City and have been a community advocate for thirty years. I hold an MSW and PhD in social work, am trained in child and adolescent mental health and trauma, as well as conduct research on adoptee identity, mutual aid, and the long-term impacts of adoption across the lifespan.
I am also a long-time yoga, tai chi qigong, Usui reiki, and meditation practitioner, integrating Western biopsychosocial models with Eastern ancestral wisdom for my own healing and transformation. “Healing with Our Ancestors Retreat” is a love project for me where I share some of the practices that have helped me heal from breast cancer and the deep wounds of separation, loss, and abandonment.
About Kim
I was adopted in Korea along with my bio brother into the same family. They were stationed in South Korea and I immigrated to the US after our adoption. I was raised in Central Texas in a predominantly white community with few racial mirrors and even less cultural socializations. Being in that environment, I was taught to ignore the racism and microaggressions which caused me to deny a lot of my identity and curiosity until much later in life.
In 2021, I went back to school to focus on an education degree. During that time, I found the adoptee community and shifted my focus to researching the adoptee identity. My research on Racial and Cultural Socialization for Identity Reclamation was awarded the Social Impact award at the GMU 2023 Undergraduate Research Symposium. With the support of Asia Family, I have been a plenary speaker, maedup facilitator and now a Korean culture class coordinator for adult adoptees spring 2026. I am honoring my truth and reclaiming my identity by educating myself and my children who are descendants of adoption. I am happy to be here at Camp Rice along with Dr. Hollee McGinnis for a second year.
Registration Fee
The full camp registration fee includes overnight accommodations, 7 meals, a camp T-shirt, Tote Bag, snacks and camp programs: $640 per person. Early bird rate as $610 if you register by February 22, 2026! Payment is required upon registration for the camp.
2026 camp fee refund policy
Cancellation by February 28- 75 percent refund
Cancellation by April 30- 50 percent refund
Cancellation by June 1- 25 percent refund
Unfortunately, no refunds will be provided for cancellations made after June 1.
Camp counselors, For Adult Adoptees and Korean-American friends who are interested in volunteering:
If you are enthusiastic about volunteering as a group leader/counselor for children or teens, please note that you should be 18 years or older and able to pass a criminal background check.
To apply, each applicant must submit their application to ASIA Families and it is first come first serve in early January.
Please be aware that this is a voluntary role, and there is no compensation provided. Additionally, volunteers are responsible for their transportation to and from the camp location.
For more information and to express your interest, please feel free to contact our camp director, Jane Yoo, at jyoo@asiafamilies.org.
Your participation is greatly appreciated!
Financial assistance for campers
If you recently experienced unemployment and financially cannot afford to send your teen to Camp Rice, please write to us at info@asiafamilies.org. We will be putting on fundraisers that will allow us to offer a few scholarships for campers.
Would you like to sponsor an adult adoptee counselor to come to the camp?
Camp Rice is a place where adult adoptees get together once a year to give their time and energy to mentor younger adoptees. They are a great asset to the Camp Rice program. In order to host one counselor, it costs us $610 If you can make a donation of $610, $305 or another amount, we can bring more adult adoptees to join the camp. Help us continue this valuable tradition. Donation HERE.
Contact us
If have a question about camp registration, counselor application form, camp curriculum, accommodations or volunteering, contact our camp director, Jane Yoo at jyoo@asiafamilies.org.
All other questions regarding financial assistance, sponsorship, donation etc., please contact Grace Song, Executive Director, at info@asiafamilies.org.
