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The West Virginia Encyclopedia
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The West Virginia Encyclopedia
In the summer of 1934 the state Department of Public Welfare established Kamp Kump, named for Governor Herman Guy Kump and located near Winfield. Part of a system of camps intended to rescue the children of families especially hard-hit by the Great Depression, Kamp Kump served as a temporary emergency receiving center for nearly 200 children removed from county poorhouses. Thus the camp provided a first step in the rehabilitation of children who had lived under debilitating conditions as county wards, in some cases for many years. After improving the nutrition and physical condition of the poorhouse children at Kamp Kump, welfare officials placed them in foster homes, or with relatives or their parents.
Written by Jerry Bruce Thomas
Thomas, Jerry Bruce. An Appalachian New Deal: West Virginia in the Great Depression. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1998.