Local Children Create Memories at PEACE's Fifth Annual Summer Camp
 Becci Burchett - peacemexico.org
July 17, 2010
| | Sponsors can send a child to camp for three weeks, covering all costs, for just $75 USD. To volunteer or donate to a PEACE camp, contact becci(at)peacemexico.org. | |
Punta de Mita, Nayarit - Summer camp has been a U.S. tradition for over 150 years and continues to create childhood memories for over ten million American children and youth who attend summer camp annually. Local non-profit, PEACE Mexico, has created the same experience for disadvantaged children and young adults throughout the Bay of Banderas in their fifth annual summer camp.
"My experience at camp Eberhart shaped the person I am today," said Molly Fisher, Founder and Director of PEACE. "We’re trying to create similar lifelong memories for kids here who often grow up too fast, and in most cases have never been on an athletic team, gone to art class or participated in any kind of organized activity. Our camps not only give them that experience, but allow them to just be kids!"
PEACE has rallied over 150 six to sixteen-year-old campers from La Cruz, Sayulita, Corral del Risco and Emiliano Zapata. Local teachers and PEACE interns, from both the United States and Mexico, created innovative curriculums for various age groups to be taught in the camps. The lesson plans focus on entrepreneurial development, recycled art and ecology.
The entrepreneurial workshops, designed for older campers, encourage young minds to dream about what they can do and who they can be while providing them with competitive skills, insightful advice from business owners and creative business plans of their own. PEACE supports the young entrepreneurs by assisting them in getting their businesses off the ground.
Last year, one team in Sayulita started a business selling calendars created from their own photography. They sold over 700 copies, contributing proceeds to improvements in their school.
Young students learn about the environment and participate in sports, arts and crafts, and other outdoor games.
"Many students participate in the camp on their own initiative," said Nikhol Esterás Roberts, one of the camp directors. "They are so enthusiastic and are absorbing so much. It’s really inspiring to see so much motivation and team work on behalf of both the students and the teachers."
Although the cost is much higher, campers pay ten pesos or 79 cents per day. However, campers who can’t afford the fee are still invited to participate and grants are available to those in need of financial support. Sponsors can send a child to camp for three weeks, covering all costs, for $75 USD.
To volunteer or donate to a PEACE camp, contact becci(at)peacemexico.org.
 PEACE: Protection, Education, Animals, Culture and Environment, is a nonprofit organization established in 2005, made of four main programs which focus on education, entrepreneurship, animal well-being, and community engagement in the coastal regions of Nayarit, Jalisco and Quintana Roo, Mexico. Through innovative and community based programs, PEACE is working to improve the quality of life in local communities throughout the Bahía de Banderas. For more information, please visit PeaceMexico.org or click HERE to read more about PEACE |
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