Educators for Eleuthera Summer Camp 2023

This week we have a blog written by the indomitable Dr Claire Verden who as you know tirelessly organizes the summer camp here in Governors Harbour every year – please support her and her team as you have been doing – the children here have a wonderful time while they are at the camp – and as you know many of them have a pretty miserable time of it otherwise.

Over to Claire –

“As spring starts to show itself, although in many parts of the world it may not feel like it, our thoughts turn to summer. And summer for us means planning for camp! Although our plans really start as soon as camp is over the previous year, now is the time when we really get logistics and arrangements together. With the support of Mrs. McPhee-Pinder, the wonderful Principal at Emily G Petty Primary School and The Center for Exceptional Learners in Governor’s Harbour, Michele Johnson at The Buccaneer and of course Kathy Colman – we put all the nuts and bolts together and plan and implement a wonderful summer program for the children of Central Eleuthera.

With a focus on academic enrichment and a big dose of fun, we provide a free summer camp experience for local children for the month of July at the primary school in town. Children from the ages of 4-12 are eligible to attend free of charge and are provided with healthy snacks, lunch and perhaps most importantly some routine for the long summer days when there is no school. A camp day consists of literacy and math’s instruction to maintain the skills learned during the school year as well as art, music and outdoor fun and games. We plan to add some special events this summer to keep everyone excited and having a blast!

            We generally see between 75 and 100 children per week which is wonderful however this requires careful planning and execution. Educators for Eleuthera is fortunate to receive support from wonderful teachers who give up their summer time off from their teaching jobs back in the states, to come and volunteer their expertise to insure that the children have a good time and are learning as well. These teachers’ pay their own way to get here and provide all their own teaching supplies to make learning fun for the children. In return they are rewarded with warm smiles, academic progress and joy from the children who just love to have fun; often they don’t realize they are learning at the same time. Our program director, Hannah Cunliffe, is volunteering for her 8^th summer in Eleuthera and as a literacy specialist oversees all the academic instruction. Our other teachers are all experienced educators who generously bring their skills and enthusiasm and give of their expertise without any remuneration.  To support the teachers, we have some wonderful local high school students that we hire as assistants, these students earn a stipend to work at camp each week and gain much valuable work experience- we hope that they may consider becoming teachers one day.

            What we need from the wonderful readers of Kathy’s blog are donations to keep the camp sustainable over the summer. We need support to purchase food for lunches and healthy snacks, for water bottles and camp T-Shirts, camp materials and supplies and for special activities. In addition, we pay our local high school teacher assistants and a local woman who makes lunches for us. We must of course pay for housing for the teachers and for a rental vehicle. Any donation makes a big difference and most importantly helps to make camp a memorable experience for the children.

            Educators for Eleuthera is a registered non-profit organization (Registered 501 (c)(3) Non-Profit ID# 84-3546713). You can find more information about us here at our website: www.educatorsforeleuthera.com The easiest way to make a donation is via PayPal: educatorsforeluthera@gmail.com  if you would prefer to send a check please send an email to educatorsforeleuthera@gmail.com for more details.

            Thank you so much for your kind consideration and for helping to enrich the lives of children in Governor’s Harbour over the long summer months when the weather is hot and sweaty, and we all need a little something to do! “

Thanks to Claire for this uplifting blog – please dig deep and make this a great summer for the local children of Central Eleuthera…..

My sister Jane is here with us so there will be plenty of news next week about what we have been up to !

Take care of yourselves and spread a little love and kindness wherever you can…….