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Whether it’s
finessing their acting skills, learning a few hip-hop dance
moves, playing some recreational sports, or honing their singing
skills at an actual recording studio, this year, The Salvation
Army Greater Houston Area Command is preparing to give area
youth a summer to remember at their Boys & Girls Clubs Summer
Day Camps.
The nonprofit
organization hosts several Summer Day Camps throughout the
region every year as part of their overall youth outreach
efforts.
“Our summer camps are
a safe place for kids to come while mom and dad are at work and
school is out,” says Doug Smith, executive director of The
Salvation Army of Greater Houston’s Boys & Girls Clubs. “Parents
know where their kids are and what they are doing; we try to
keep them involved and off the streets.”
In order to
participate in the Summer Day Camps youth should be between the
ages of 5 and12, have their parent’s register them for the
program, pay a small fee, and be members of The Salvation Army’s
Boys & Girls Clubs. In return they will spend time both indoors
and outdoors participating in an array of activities including:
arts and crafts, games, skits and songs, sports, swimming, and
weekly off-site field trips.
“The field trips are
especially rewarding for us,” notes Donnie Cook, branch director
for The Salvation Army’s Aldine Westfield Corps Community Center
Boys & Girls Club. “I mean some of these kids have never been to
the other side of town; when we take them to new and interesting
places you can see their eyes light up. It’s very motivating for
them.”
Located in areas that
are for the most part considered to be at-risk, each of the
nonprofit’s six corps community centers focus on providing a
positive influence on young boys and girls who might otherwise
not have anywhere else to turn. Captain Stephen Na, a double
black belt in Tae Kwon Do, spends hours every week passing out
flyers and talking to parents, near the International Corps
Community Center that he oversees in southwest Houston, about
the services he offers for young people.
His community center
is the only one in Houston that offers regular Tae Kwon Do
classes throughout the year. It is also the fastest-growing in
the local region.
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