Page 9: Last Page

	"We walked thousands of miles around the football stadium– and it was so hot—but I loved it! I've never been inside there. It is so big!"

We met some UM athletes there and at Crisler Arena.


This summer day camp was conceived of, planned for, and run by Reach Out! members Aarti Raheja and Debbie McCartney (above right). They raised funds, arranged tours and demonstrations, recruited volunteers among their friends and trained them, solicited food and material donations, and designed and had T-shirts and name badges made. They deliberately chose to work with youngsters from the Serendipity Reading Clubs at Ann Arbor subsidized housing sites. A slightly rotating cast of a dozen volunteers—who worked around summer jobs and classes—helped to provide plenty of supervision. The intent was to open many windows on the world for the children. They do not have the richness of experience to draw upon that upper-middle-class youngsters enjoy. Camp Discovery was a pronounced success at providing them with good times, congenial company, and plenty of new experiences to think, talk, and write about. All counselors gave the following consistent feedback, that they (1) thoroughly enjoyed the overall program; (2) believe we made a difference in the children's lives even though it was just one week; and (3) gained an appreciation for children's intensity, their need to be constantly active, their challenging nature, their sensitivity (i.e., easily having hurt feelings), and their immense need for attention. Overall, we saw how much they want to do things with adults, spend time with them, hang onto their hands, be touched. Three children shared they were surprised the adults didn't get paid to do this; we think that this was an important difference for all.

This summer day camp was conceived of, planned for, and run by Reach Out! members Aarti Raheja and Debbie McCartney (above right). They raised funds, arranged tours and demonstrations, recruited volunteers among their friends and trained them, solicited food and material donations, and designed and had T-shirts
and name badges made. They deliberately chose to work with youngsters from the Serendipity Reading Clubs at Ann Arbor subsidized housing sites. A slightly rotating
cast of a dozen volunteers—who worked around summer jobs and classes—helped to provide plenty of supervision.

The intent was to open many windows on the world for the children. They do not have the richness of experience to draw upon that upper-middle-class youngsters enjoy. Camp Discovery was a pronounced success at providing them with good times, congenial company, and plenty of new experiences to think, talk, and write about.

All counselors gave the following consistent feedback, that they (1) thoroughly enjoyed the overall program; (2) believe we made a difference in the children's lives even though it was just one week; and (3) gained an appreciation for children's intensity, their need to be constantly active, their challenging nature, their sensitivity (i.e., easily having hurt feelings), and their immense need for attention.

Overall, we saw how much they want to do things with adults, spend time with them, hang onto their hands, be touched. Three children shared they were surprised the adults didn't get paid to do this; we think that this was an important difference for all.

Go to
Page 1 - Musical Adventures		Page 5 - Swing Dancing
Page 2 - Canoeing		Page 6 - Vehicles
Page 3 - Domino's Farm		Page 7 - Picnicking
Page 4 - Crafts & Projects		Page 8 - Waves

Page 9: Last Page

See who made camp possible! Return to Reach Out! Home Page