From The Morning Call -- February 27, 2005
By Christian Berg
When John Annoni tells people what he's doing with his life, he knows what many of them are thinking. This man is either crazy or a fool.
Annoni, in fact, is neither. What he is, according to those who know him, is a man whose desire for money and personal achievement is trumped by an all-consuming quest to help kids succeed.
''When John wakes up in the morning, that's his mission,'' said Annette Annoni, his wife of almost 10 years. ''He just wants to help kids, and it's very rare to find somebody that has that passion and know that's what they are on earth for.''
Annoni, 37, of South Whitehall Township, is a sixth-grade teacher at Trexler Middle School in Allentown. He's also the founder and chief executive officer of Camp Compass Academy, a nonprofit mentoring organization that introduces inner city kids to hunting, fishing and other outdoor sports.
Annoni has touched the lives of hundreds of Allentown youngsters since he established the Camp Compass program 11 years ago. Many of them are poor, minority students who would likely never experience the thrill of outdoor adventure without the academy's help.
Because of the time it takes to teach school and run the academy, Annoni regularly works 70- to 80-hour weeks. Although he draws a decent salary from the Allentown School District, his pay from Camp Compass was just $6,000 last year.
''Being a CEO and raising the money is a job-and-a-half itself,'' Annoni said. ''Many people say I'm stupid for doing this, but I want to know, “Who else is saving these kids?''
Annoni's desire to connect city kids with nature is the result of his own difficult childhood. An Allentown native, Annoni was raised by his maternal grandparents, Mary and Henry Angelo Annoni, who lived in a modest home at Second and Linden streets.
His father, Frank Thorpe, was a heroin addict. The last time Annoni saw him was about four years ago, when Thorpe overdosed and was found by police dead in a bathtub. Annoni says he was called to identify the body.
''I never had a dad,'' Annoni said. ''I got to see him a couple times in jail and saw him once or twice on the street.''
Annoni's parents were never married. However, his mother, Patricia Annoni, was involved in a series of abusive relationships that made for some traumatic weekend stays at her home in the Hanover Acres housing project, he says. During many of those visits, Annoni simply took off and headed for the sanctuary of nearby woodlots, where he discovered peace among the trees and wildlife.
''That got me away from the abuse,'' Annoni said. ''It took me away from things that hurt me.''
Other than his grandparents and a few uncles who taught him about hunting and took him fishing along Jordan Creek, nature was one of the few positive influences in Annoni's young life.
''I had a good, personal relationship with the outdoors,'' he said.
Annoni's first hunting experience occurred around age 8 or 9, when he shot a squirrel with a homemade bow. He learned to shoot rifles at Camp Horseshoe, a former Boy's Club camp in Lehigh County where his grandmother sent him each summer.
By the time Annoni was in high school, he had developed a real passion for the outdoors. He said hunting and fishing provided an escape that many around him sought in drugs.
''It's hard to do drugs when you want to get up in the morning and hunt animals,'' Annoni said. ''How am I going to beat a white tail [if I'm high]? C'mon.''
After graduating from Dieruff High School in 1985, Annoni attended Kutztown University and received a bachelor's degree in elementary education in 1989. Living in Kutztown was Annoni's first extended stay in a rural area, and he enjoyed the opportunity to do more hunting and exploring on the large Game Lands of Berks County.
Annoni killed his first deer while in college. Although he had been a hunter since age 12, Annoni said he was never frustrated by his lack of success. ''It wasn't like I was just there for the deer,'' he said. ''I was there because it was my [security] blanket.''
While Annoni's college experience made it easier for him to hunt, it was a difficult time personally.
Annoni's father was black, and his mother is white. He said his bi-racial heritage never seemed like a big deal on the multi-ethnic streets of Allentown, but he noticed a difference on the predominantly white Kutztown campus. In December of 1988, Annoni was cited for criminal mischief after he kicked in the door of a fellow student who referred to him using a racial epithet.
''You have to grow into yourself,'' Annoni said. ''I had a lot of great friends who didn't really care, but it really struck me when I got to college. That's where it was the biggest issue, and that's where it really came to fruition that hey, I'm a little different.''
Despite that turmoil, Annoni said the experience taught him to deal with the race issue - and how not to deal with it. These days, race is a topic he rarely brings up.
''It's just an issue that I don't really harp on much,'' he said. ''I want people to look at me for me.''
After graduating from Kutztown, Annoni returned home and took a job as a fourth-grade teacher at Central Elementary. He's been in the Allentown School District ever since.
Annoni's first boss was David Borbe, a retired principal who worked 33 years in the Allentown public schools. Borbe said it was clear from the start that Annoni has a special gift.
''He was quite interested in motivating kids, not only in academic subjects, but also in behavior - doing the right thing, being kind, working hard and being cooperative with other students and teachers,'' Borbe said. ''He was a very caring teacher, and it spilled over and effected all the students.''
Borbe also is a lifelong hunter, and it wasn't long before he and Annoni were swapping stories and heading afield together. Borbe even invited Annoni to sleep over the night before deer season opened and introduced him to many productive hunting areas.
''He was sort of the son I never had,'' Borbe said. ''I had a daughter, and I was hoping I would have a son to go hunting with, and he filled that void for me while we were working together.''
Back at school, Borbe encouraged Annoni to include the outdoors in his curriculum and allowed Annoni to bring in special guests such as taxidermists and wildlife biologists.
''When he started incorporating the outdoors into the classroom, he brought more relevancy to the subject areas,'' Borbe said. ''It really got the kids excited.''
Eventually, Annoni developed outdoor programs for the entire school and started conducting summer enrichment programs at the Wildlands Conservancy's Pool Wildlife Sanctuary, where he worked with kids from the Boy's Club, the Sixth Street Shelter and elsewhere.
''The outdoors always welcomes you, and that's what I think is so important to kids,'' Annoni said. ''Those critters don't see color, and they don't know if you're rich or poor.''
After several years, Annoni realized those programs were too limited. First, they didn't provide enough long-term, one-on-one contact to make a life-changing impact on the students. Secondly, Annoni knew he would never be able to take kids hunting or introduce them to the shooting sports under the auspices of the Allentown School District.
In 1994, he decided to create an organization of his own. Camp Compass was born.
For the first two years, Camp Compass was just that - a weeklong summer camp where youngsters had the opportunity to experience activities such as white-water rafting, taxidermy, archery, rifle shooting and fly fishing.
The Camp Compass name was chosen, Annoni said, because we ''wanted something to show that we were really trying to point kids in the right direction.'' The word academy was added later when the program expanded to include a weekly, after-school mentoring session.
Camp Compass received federal nonprofit status in 2000 and found a permanent headquarters in 2002, when Joe Mascari donated the rent-free use of a portion of his Joe Mascari's Carpets and Rugs International building at 1221 Sumner Ave.
Camp Compass Academy works with students ages 11-17, and participants are chosen through a competitive screening process. There are currently 60 students enrolled, with another 73 on a waiting list.
''I've got so many kids who want to be a part of this, I don't know what to do,'' Annoni said.
Students accepted into Camp Compass are expected to make a long-term commitment. Many youngsters who started with the program in middle school remain involved through high school graduation.
One big reason most students stick with the Camp Compass program is because the biggest rewards aren't given - they're earned. Students are invited to attend sportsmen's shows and go fishing relatively quickly, but the coveted hunting trips are reserved for those who have been around at least three years.
''Nobody hunts without working,'' Annoni said. ''All of the kids know that they've got to pay their dues.''
Although hunting adventures are the carrot Camp Compass uses to motivate students, the weekly after-school sessions are at the heart of the program's effectiveness. Held every Monday afternoon, students spend 30 minutes meeting one-on-one with Annoni and eight other teachers who volunteer with the program. The students are required to provide status reports on their schoolwork, social life and home environment, all of which provide an opportunity to identify small problems before they become big ones.
''Kids yearn for structure and discipline, and when they are getting that from us, they actually like it,'' said Chad Gruver, a Camp Compass volunteer and Trexler Middle School special education teacher. ''The kids that come down to the academy, I know them inside and out, and the only way you can do that is to spend time with them.''
After the weekly reporting session, the students get an hour outdoor lesson incorporating lessons related to math, English and social studies.
''This is a mini college,'' Annoni said. ''Our expectations are high, and with that comes discipline.''
Discipline is exactly what Kim Noss said her son, Jarrett, needed when he enrolled in Camp Compass seven years ago. Jarrett has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and Noss said the condition has caused numerous problems in school.
''My son, when he was younger, was always in trouble, and they would call Mr. Annoni to attend to him,'' Noss said. ''To be honest with you, and this may sound a little sappy, my son would not be where he is today without Camp Compass. They help the children focus, and he learned how to focus there.''
Now 16 and a junior at Allen High School, Jarrett is off his ADHD medication and doing well in school. ''If I ever needed help with homework or something, I went to [Mr. Annoni] and he helped me out,'' Jarrett said.
Thanks to Camp Compass, Jarrett has been able to experience deer hunting, deep sea fishing and even a waterfowling trip to North Dakota. As a result, he has developed an interest in cooking wild game and hopes to study culinary arts in college.
"If it wasn't for him, I probably never would have gotten to hunt, because my dad isn't much of a hunter,'' Jarrett said. ''He filled that kind of fatherly role."
The positive impact Camp Compass has made on young lives has generated a considerable amount of praise, including coverage by The New York Times, USA Today and the CBS Evening News. Perhaps the biggest honor came in 1999, when Annoni was named educator of the year by Safari Club International, one of the world's largest pro-hunting organizations.
Camp Compass has also caught the eye of hunting and shooting industry leaders. Many of them are concerned about dwindling hunter numbers and the challenge of recruiting a new generation into the sport.
Several years ago, a Camp Compass video found its way into the hands of Ronnie Strickland, senior vice president of television and media for Mossy Oak, a diverse outdoor company that produces many of the nation's most popular camouflage patterns and several award-winning television programs. Strickland was so moved by the footage that he immediately contacted Annoni and made arrangements to feature Camp Compass students on a Mossy Oak program.
Strickland and Annoni have since developed a close friendship, and Mossy Oak continues to promote Camp Compass, which has since appeared in several episodes of Mossy Oak's nationally televised hunting programs. Mossy Oak has also helped organize hunts for Camp Compass students and recently held a benefit golf tournament for it.
''I'm telling you, as a guy from Mississippi who's at the top of the industry, he's one of my heroes. He really is,'' Toxey Haas, Mossy Oak's founder and chief executive officer, said of Annoni. ''How can we sit here in the position we're in and not help him? If we didn't, I couldn't sleep at night.''
Despite Camp Compass' growing national reputation, the program still struggles to pay bills and has an annual budget of just $60,000. While Annoni believes that forging relationships with hunting industry leaders eventually will pay off, he still relies almost exclusively on the support of local sportsmen.
One of Camp Compass' most faithful supporters in the Lehigh Valley Chapter of Safari Club International, which has donated more than $30,000 over the years. Other regular contributors include the Pennsylvania Friends of the NRA, Ontelaunee Rod and Gun Club, Lehigh County Fish and Game, Pennsylvania Outdoor Writers Association and the United Bowhunters of Pennsylvania.
Most of Camp Compass funding, however, is raised through individual donations.
One of Annoni's biggest frustrations is the inability to secure large-scale financial support from the United Way and other charities, which are hesitant to fund a program that encourages hunting and puts guns in the kids' hands.
''I don't do the politically correct outdoors,'' Annoni said. ''Our hiking is chasing a gobbler up the mountain. We have real field trips, and our buses are four-wheel drive.''
Many people have suggested to Annoni that Camp Compass could secure funding if it abandoned hunting and shooting and focused instead on fishing, rock climbing, canoeing, camping and the like. Annoni said doing that would destroy the very essence of the program.
''Nobody can look me in the eye and tell me I'm wrong for being a hunter,'' he said, ''because when they do that, they're saying that what saved me is wrong. If anybody is going to be able to defend this sport, it's me.''
Annette Annoni said it can be disheartening to hear people question Camp Compass or her husband's motivation for it.
''If they really knew him,'' she said, ''they wouldn't question him for second. I'm the only one who sees how hard John works. I see how many hours this man puts in. There's always somebody who is going to question you, [and] I just wish they knew his whole heart was in this.''
Guns and hunting aren't the only hurdles Camp Compass faces when it comes to garnering financial support. Some of Annoni's supporters say race also factors into the equation.
Annoni acknowledges that race plays a role, if for no other reason than the fact that hunting is largely a rural, white pastime.
''You look on the Outdoor Channel, and you don't really see any reason for kids of color to want to be in the outdoors,'' he said. ''We haven't been traditionally in the sport.''
Despite that, many observers believe race is one of Annoni's top assets, both in relating to inner city kids and being able to promote the outdoors to a new demographic.
Many of Annoni's friends at Mossy Oak call him the Tiger Woods of hunting, noting that the Camp Compass program could be replicated in other cities and do for hunting what Woods did with golf for African-American youth.
As much as he appreciates the analogy, Annoni said he doesn't want race to distract from the Camp Compass mission of helping kids, regardless of color.
''I want to try to cross the racial barrier in some instances, kind of like Tiger Woods does,'' Annoni said. ''But I don't want to be John, the black guy. I just want to be John.
''Respect me for who I am and look at me for what I've been able to build. It came because I love it, and I want to give that love back.''
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