ABOUT US | Founder

Eva Payne is the organizations Founder and Executive Director. She began Project Kindle in August of 1998, while attending the University of Nebraska. She saw a need and decided to fill it. Project Kindle began serving special needs youth through a cost-free, recreational, weeklong summer camp. The first camp session was held in July of 1999, with the help of 30 professional volunteer staff members. In 2005, Eva copied the program in California to reach children and youth located in the Western United States. Through the years, the camp sessions, known as Camp Kindle, offers a balance of recreation, leadership building activities, and health and character education.  

After years of renting camp facilities, Eva and the other Project Kindle staff became frustrated with facilities that could not meet the needs of their camper population. Few camp facilities were handicap accessible. Most did not have available dates suitable for the program needs. The "nice facilities" had costs beyond reasonable expectations for a nonprofit. Sites which had available dates and were reasonably priced often were so run down, they did not even have flushing toilets. The Project Kindle staff had to do something. The team looked into purchasing a campsite for their one week session, but it did not make sense to own a camp and only operate it a few weeks out of the year. Eva knew other nonprofit's which hosted camp programs must face similar challenges. The idea for Kindle Ranch was beginning to form.

Kindle Ranch came to full realization after visiting a camp in Texas www.campforall.org in 2007.  This unique model of a full service camp facility for a network of nonprofit's resonated with the Executive Director.  Camp For All was extremely helpful and supportive of Eva's desire to build a similar camp in Southern California. Eva later visited another camp with a similar purpose www.campjohnmarc.org and with the feedback and knowledge shared from these two camps, began working on the concept of Kindle Ranch. Eva spent the next year building the Project Kindle board and setting the foundation for Kindle Ranch. In 2008, Project Kindle was selected as the primary beneficiaries of Northwestern University Dance Marathon. This student group raised over $500,000 for Project Kindle - some of which was earmarked as a lead gift for Kindle Ranch. In 2009, Project Kindle secured a consultant to help with a needs assessment and build out the strategic plan for the success of Kindle Ranch. In 2010, Eva spoke with Camp Twin Lakes in Georgia www.camptwinlakes.org (the last of the three only 100% accessible camps in the United States that follows a model of nonprofit collaboration). They shared valuable materials with the Project Kindle staff. Eva and the architectural team visited Camp Twin Lakes in 2011. Throughout 2010 and 2011 many nonprofit's aligned themselves with Kindle Ranch as either a potential campsite user group (once the site is built) or in a design advisory capacity. The Medical Advisory Board took shape and a larger group of donors and Campaign Committee Members joined the cause.

Since its foundation Project Kindle has gone on to be recognized by the former Governor of the State of Nebraska, Mike Johanns. The organization has been featured in local and national media including:  E!, MTV, TeenNick, DirecTV, Family Circle Magazine, and in the Associated Press. Eva Payne has been recognized for her dedication to the cause as a national finalist in both the 4th and 5th annual Volvo For Life Awards, L’Oreal Paris Women of Worth honoree, DirecTV Hometown Hero, a Los Angeles Business Journal Women Making a Difference honoree and a Helpful Honda Honoree.

Eva married her high school sweetheart in 1999 and together they have six children. The Payne family have lived in the Santa Clarita Valley since 2004.