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Thank you for coming to learn more about the Keep Kids Safe Summer Camp Fund. Our goal is to help kids who have seen violence up close – too close – experience the joy of summer camp, and find fellowship and fun in a safe environment. Who We Are The Philadelphia chapter of the NAACP, Philadelphia Citizens for Children & Youth (PCCY), and the Greater Philadelphia Urban Affairs Coalition have come together with an array of community-based organizations to give Philadelphia's children who have been affected by violence the opportunity to go to summer camp. Background As you know, 10 year-old Faheem Thomas-Childs was tragically shot and killed by gun crossfire outside his school in a North Philadelphia neighborhood this winter. Since then, community activists have been raising awareness and organizing the Philadelphia community to prevent further violence to children. In April, thousands marched in silence through North Philadelphia to mourn the 26 Philadelphia school students lost to violence since the start of the last school year. The Camp This summer, a new community outreach project enabled 146 Philadelphia children who were affected by violence - as victims, or as witnesses living in though neighborhoods - escape the tensions of urban life and go to overnight camp. Called "The Keep Kids Safe Summer Camp Fund", it is an opportunity for these children to get some fresh air, and to experience what lies outside of their own neighborhoods. It is a time for them to heal and to play, in a safe place. "An end to violence. The opportunity to be a kid." That is the message of the Keep Kids Safe Summer Camp Fund. A project of the NAACP, the Greater Philadelphia Urban Affairs Coalition and Philadelphia Citizens for Children and Youth, there was no fee to attend the camp, thanks to support from: The Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News, the School District of Philadelphia, State Rep. Dwight Evans, State Senator Jewell Williams, Nextel Communications, the Guardian Civic League, Communities in Schools, Pennsylvania Convention Center Authority and Prudential Financial. Children ages 9 to 10 attended. Fellowship Farm in Pottstown, Montgomery County, hosted the children and provided them with a traditional overnight summer camp experience, as well as activities geared around conflict resolution and how to cope with violence in their communities. Priority was given to children affected by violence who had never been to summer camp before. Three one-week sessions were held in August and early September 2004, before the start of school. A total of 146 children attended camp. They were referred by community-based organizations, including: Congreso de Latinos Unidos, the hOme & School Association of T.M. Pierce Elementary School, the School District of Philadelphia, Mothers In Charge, West Kensington Boy's & Girl's Club, Community Education Alliance of West Philadelphia, the Black Clergy, and Philadelphia Anti-Drug Anti-Violence Network.
Update and Donations To date The Summer Camp Fund received $130,000 in pledges. Our total budget is $150,000 so we are short $20,000. Please contribute what you can. Send your tax-deductible contribution, made payable to GPUAC, to:
Please attach your name and full mailing address to your check so we can properly acknowledge your contribution.
For more information, or to learn more about our plans for 2005, contact Jeanmarie Dunn-Kane, director, GPUAC Education Children and Youth Committee at 215-851-1882, or email to jdunn@gpuac.org Thank you. |
