Since 2000, Camp Fiver, in New York, has become a lifeline for kids growing up in the inner city. Working year-round with a group of motivated educators and college students who inspire and care for the children, Fiver serves children from age 8 to 18.
By promoting healthy life choices, enhancing self-efficacy and leadership skills, and by motivating participants to succeed in school, Fiver has seen 96% of its high school seniors graduate with 93% enrolling in college.
Over the last year, HOT has made $20,000 in grants: funding (i) a program to support college visits for rising sophomores an juniors, (ii) a summer counselor position, (iii) a grant to pay for a Learning Director at Camp Fiver and (iv) funded the 2011 Annual Parent Retreat (which keeps the parents engaged and involved in the program and in their children’s lives and allows them to experience the magic of Camp Fiver the way their kids do). By funding these programs, HOT has helped Fiver succeed in their mission to lead their kids out of what could have been a never-ending cycle of poverty, drugs and crime.
Says one Fiver Alumna, “Fiver has been the father figure we never had, the older sister we always wished for, the reason we are not in jail, the reason we are in college, the reason we had the courage to travel overseas and serve our country, most importantly the reason we are alive. They gave us the power to be aware, believe, and promote change.”
All four of the grants HOT has made over the last year have been made with undesignated funds. This year HOT would like its donors to designate:
$7,000 to ensure that the college trip program can continue to take place for participating high school students, many of whom will be the first in their family to go to college, and/or
$4,500 to hire a Health and Wellness Director for the 2012 Camp Fiver summer to focus solely on teaching the kids about nutrition, healthy relationships, and positive life choices, and/or
$8,000 to buy new computers so that the staff can continue to focus on this important work without struggling with poor technology.