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 Vallarta Living | April 2006 
Fresh Air Foundation Spring Camp Held in Puerto Vallarta
 Bob Cohen - PVNN
| | One of the many dance classes held during the two week spring camp. | 
| | Camp attendees not only learned about tradional Mexican face painting, but also had masks made for themselves. | 
| | At the closing ceremony, a group of youngsters perform an Arabic belly dance for family and friends. | 
| | Did these 70 kids look happy? You bet they were as they loudly chanted "Wendy, Wendy, Wendy!" as the founder of Fresh Air was introduced. |
While over 200,000 visitors filled the streets of Puerto Vallarta during the two week Semana Santa and Pascua spring break, 70 local kids had the opportunity to attend a multi-cultural spring camp presented by the non-profit Fresh Air Foundation. The camp, held at the library in Los Mangos gave the kids a chance to seek alternative, healthy choices from their two weeks off from school.
What began four years ago with just six kids from La Aurora, has grown to 70 and is now a mix of kids from La Aurora, the whole Banderas bay and youngsters from local private schools. The amazing thing was that the camp was able to break down social and economic barriers and allow the children to participate in a multitude of activities. The cost for the camp was 600 pesos for a week or 1000 pesos for the whole two week session. Almost every child opted for the two weeks and nobody was turned away for lack of funds.
Wendy Johnson is the founder and President of the Fresh Air Foundation and has contracted with the Guias De Mexico, the only Mexican organization to be licensed to provide the services that were offered. Antonio Berrueta Ferrioli and his wife Claudia, both from Tabasco have been arranging kid's camps for 18 years and appear to have found a home with the Fresh Air Foundation, completing three years of affiliation with the group. They have run camps that have traveled throughout Mexico, the United States, Guatemala and Germany.
Seven local teens from Puerto Vallarta served as volunteer counselors and many have attended the camp previously, learning that giving back as workers gives as much fun and pleasure as being a participant. Gabriel served in his third year as a counselor and went through the camp in its first year in 2002. Andres served as a counselor for his second year and Jenoa completed her first exciting year of hard work and fun for all that attended.
Some of the many activities included a number of dance classes that taught jazz, hip hop, salsa and Arabic dancing. Other activities included theatre, literature, photography, ecology, arts and crafts, face painting (traditional Mexican masks), circus acts, animation and yoga. Local Puerto Vallarta teens were hired on to teach the classes, assisting Antonio and Claudia. The children also went on trips to the zoo and the botanical gardens and spend an overnight camping trip at Las Palmas.
On Friday, April 21st the camp attendees showed their newly learned skills to friends and family at the library at 5:00 PM at the closing ceremony. Close to 200 proud parents and friends attended and cameras were snapping, capturing the moments on film as their kids danced and performed in groups and solo acts. It was extremely touching to see how well the kids got along and will take these newly learned skills and friendships back to their schools with them.
We applaud the Fresh Air Foundation for their efforts to help bring communities together. The foundation is not one the the well known charitable organizations in Puerto Vallarta and received much funding for the camp through bartering and other means. On tap next are two summer camps, one held in Veracruz and another in the United States. These are sleep away camps and the kids will enjoy deluxe accommodations. The cost is minimal compared to a typical camp in the U.S. and arrangement can also be made with Wendy if a potential attendee does not have the necessary funds to attend. More will be written about the Fresh Air Foundation and their efforts in the near future.
For information and contacts, one can call on cell phone, 044-322-131-4874 locally, in Mexico at 01-800-702-9844 or from the U.S. at 1-866-338-7296. The email address is airefrescopv@yahoo.com. |
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