Man on a mission

Man on a mission

Teacher pours his passion for the outdoors into inner city youth

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?”

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