Philly kids to get break at summer camp
Mayor Kenney and Department of Parks and Recreation Commissioner Kathryn Ott Lovell announced the details of Camp Philly, a partnership with the Philadelphia Freedom Valley YMCA that hopes to send 200 Philly children to camp in the Poconos.
Wednesday morning in the stately Mayor's Reception Room at City Hall, Skip Zimmerman, director at YMCA's Camp Speers, led a group of around 50 Philadelphia children in a camp song.
"Ram zamzam, Ram zamzam. Goolie Goolie Goolie Ram zamzam," the group sang.
After they finished, Zimmerman smiled. "You guys are well-practiced. I'll see you at camp."
Minutes later, Mayor Kenney and Parks and Recreation Commissioner Kathryn Ott Lovell announced the details of Camp Philly, a partnership between the Department of Parks and Recreation and Philadelphia Freedom Valley YMCA's Camp Speers.
Camp Philly plans to send 200 Philadelphia children to a weeklong overnight camp at Camp Speers, in the Poconos. The camp offers a range of activities, including horseback riding and archery. Campers will participate in one of two sessions in late August.
The camp will be free for participants, thanks to fund-raising from the Department of Parks and Recreation that includes a $70,000 grant from the Bank of America Foundation.
"I'm excited for the archery, like the bow and arrow, and I'm excited for swimming. I've never been in a canoe," said Nasir Shaw, 10, of North Philadelphia. Camp Philly will be Nasir's first time at overnight camp.
Antoinette Mercer's daughter Aris, 10, will also be attending Camp Philly.
"I'm hoping that she becomes more outgoing, because she can be very shy, and also [that she has] the experiences that right now I can't provide her financially," Mercer said.
Camp Speers opened in 1948 as the first racially integrated YMCA summer camp for boys. It expanded to include girls in 1958 and in 1986 opened a day camp.
Today Camp Speers has one- and two-week overnight sessions, a day camp, and a leadership camp for high school sophomores and juniors. The weeklong summer camp usually costs $856 to $1,015.
"I would say probably about 20, 25 percent of our campers come from inner-city backgrounds, whether it's New Jersey or New York or Pennsylvania," said Zimmerman.
"I was really upset and really heartbroken about some of the things that were going on in our communities and some of the things that our kids were seeing and hearing," Zimmerman said. "I wanted to do something directly to get our kids out of the city for a period of time so they could be kids, be free, learn things."