Several people attended Saturday’s Trooper Island Camp Appreciation Day ceremony as the organization prepares to get it’s 50th season of summer camp underway.

Located on Dale Hollow Lake in the south-western corner of Clinton County, the youth camp is operated by the Kentucky State Police, funded solely through private donations and is designed as a means of giving underprivileged and at risk Kentucky youth the opportunity to attend a free week of summer camp while working and playing alongside officers of the Kentucky State Police law enforcement agency.

During a brief ceremony held Saturday afternoon near the Fallen Officers Memorial structure on the north end of Trooper Island, Kentucky State Police Commissioner Rodney Brewer, above, told the crowd on hand that since it had been founded, it was believed that Trooper Island Camp had reached out to an estimated 30,000 children with it’s camping activities.

The campers are selected by officers of the Kentucky State Police from their patrol communities and among the activities campers enjoy each year include swimming, archery, canoeing, fishing, nature and safety courses.

During Saturday’s program, those on the Island gathered near the Fallen Officers Memorial to pay tribute to and remember those officers who have been killed in the line of duty. That ceremony included an appearance by the nationally acclaimed Kentucky State Police Honor Guard, one of whom is shown in the photo at right as he left the ceremony area.