Founding of Camp Beacon

Sometime in 2021, co-founders Melissa Benson and Jess Cleveland had a phone conversation about LGBTQ+ summer camps. Melissa’s daughter had been looking for an affirming camp after having negative experiences at other camps as a lesbian. Jess was active in the Kentucky Mom Hugs chapter (which has since become Kentucky Embraces You), so Melissa reached out to her for resources. Unable to find a suitable option close to Kentucky, the two friends decided to create one. Thus Camp Beacon was born. Centering the values of inclusion, intersectionality, collaboration with youth, and financial accessibility they began gathering the right people together. The initial camp leadership team consisted of Medical Services Chair Vestena Robbins, Fundraising and Outreach Chair Shannon Ashley, and Mental Health professional Kyle May. It took two years of strategic planning, team building, fundraising, and project management before accepting its first cohort of campers in 2023. Jess served as the initial Director of camp as a proud ally and mother of a daughter in the LGBTQ+ community. She continues to support the camp through advocacy and fundraising while now full-time concentrating on housing issues in the state and co-running a skate shop. Melissa served as the first Programming Chair and is now the Board Chair. In 2022, Andy Beshear awarded Jess and Melissa with the honorable title of Kentucky Colonel for co-founding Camp Beacon. In 2025, they accepted an award on behalf of the camp from the Kentucky Youth Law Project.

Col. Jess Cleveland Co-Founder & First Director, she/her

Hometown: Lexington

About me: I have a decade of experience in advocacy across Kentucky in the areas of housing, voting access, and LGBTQ+ rights. I have spent years building relationships within the community. Along with my friend and co-founder, I recognized the need for a safe summer camp experience for LGBTQ+ youth in Kentucky. I bring a fierce spirit and empathetic heart to my advocacy and support. I believe that we have a duty to our young people to co-create with them a safe and equitable world and that starts right here in our own backyard of Kentucky. I am the mother of two incredible children and our sweet pup, Gizmo.

Fun fact: In my down time, I enjoy coffee with friends, hiking, camping, reading, S’mores and especially a competitive game of UNO.

Col. Melissa Benson, MAT, Co-Founder & Board Chair, she/her

Home Town: Nicholasville

About Me: I bring to my work my lens as a cis female, bisexual, disabled, neurodivergent, rural woman. I am a project manager in the healthcare industry and doctoral candidate at the University of Kentucky. My research area is the reader response of young adolescents as they transact with multimodal texts. I am a graduate of Berea College, University of the Cumberlands, and the University of Kentucky with degrees in art, education, and research. I have many years of activism and volunteering experience across a variety of contexts. I am proud to have co-created the kind of space I did not have as a young person for future generations, but it took our entire team to make that happen. I am a member of the 2025-2026 cohort for the Kentucky Rural-Urban Exchange. I am also a published rural poet and love spending time with my husband and daughter traveling, kayaking, and fishing.

Fun fact: I hosted one of the first Little Free Libraries in Kentucky.

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