Thread by @NancyAFrench

3 years ago, @GretchenCarlson asked me to look into a camp in Branson, Missouri called @Kanakuk where abuse happened, but few knew about it due to their draconian use of NDAs. I didn’t want to look into this, but – knowing children might be at risk – I needed to. /1

What I found was even more disturbing than Gretchen knew. I discovered many predators at the camp – from the 1950s until just recently – with camp leadership covering it up and hoping no one noticed. /2

One reason ‘no one noticed’ is because @Kanakuk’s celebrity influences kept hammering away at ‘what a great place’ it was and ‘how much good is being done there.’

Clark Hunt, the part owner, chairman and CEO of the Kansas City @Chiefs, is one of those @Kanakuk endorsers. /3

He has promoted @Kanakuk throughout the years, before and after I published my investigation in @USATODAY which detailed how the camp leadership kept vital info from parents about camper abuse. /4

The camp promotes 'purity culture' - a petri dish of abuse - in order to assure well-meaning parents their kids would be 'protected from the world.' But the parents didn't realize their kids needed protection from the Christian leaders. /5

Campers could not communicate with parents what was happening at the camp - except through hand-writtten letters. Little did parents know Kanakuk the counselors were instructed to monitor to prevent criticism (even suicide threats) from reaching home. /6

They were right to worry about suicide. This young Dallas man died via suicide after his horrific abuse at @Kanakuk. I've been told of several other deaths as well. (Mostly victims, but - in one case – a predator.) /7

Anyway, Clark Hunt has promoted the camp – before and after it was revealed @Kanakuk's been a hotbed of rape. He spoke at a fundraiser breakfast in 2021 for an affiliated ministry after the articles showing Kanakuk leadership's complicity in the abuse that happened there. /8

The Clarks posted a photo of @Kanakuk CEO Joe White with their daughter. White is the main person at the helm as hundreds of children were assaulted at the camp. /9

In June of last year, Clark's wife Tavia posted this photo promoting not just @Kanakuk but demonstrating that their daughter was attending last summer. (Note the "faith, hope" stickers on her trunk.) /10

In this post, the Hunts talk about how their daughter received an honor at @Kanakuk. /11

ICYMI, here is one of the many articles I wrote about @Kanakuk demonstrating how they allowed a super predator (and others) to abuse an estimated hundreds of kids, then hid that from the public. /12 usatoday.com/story/news/inv…

But the investigation took me 3 years, which means I wrote a LOT about this over that time. Check out all of my @Kanakuk articles in @springfieldNL and @thedispatch by going to my website and looking under 'journalism.' /13NancyFrench.com

Nobody resigned as a result of the failure to stop a decade of abuse. There was no disciplinary action against any of the super predator’s supervisors, and Joe White is still the head of the camp today -- apparently still enjoying his friendship with the Hunt family. /14

For all of you Kansas City fans, including @TaylorSwift, cheer them on!

But please hold Kanakuk’s celebrity endorsers accountable too.

This isn't a game for the hundreds of victims. /END