62°
The camp is held at Columbus School and offers education, recreation and enrichment activities for more than 200 students during the summer. The camp is operated through partnerships with a number of community organizations.
The kids learn about plants through the Friends of Ryan Park, do project-based experiments in science through the Maritime Aquarium and Stepping Stones, and learn how to swim at the Wilton YMCA.
"We're grateful for the support from the Fairfield County Community Foundation. They supported two of our summer initiatives this year," said Novelette Peterkin, executive director of the Carver Foundation.
The camp receives support from the city, but Mayor Harry Rilling said the Carver Foundation still needed more funds to operate the camp this year.
"We might have been able to handle 100 kids with the money the city put forward," he said.
He said that a call to the Fairfield County Community Foundation was able to secure the donation to help run the camp, and that it got the ball rolling on other organizations and businesses contributing money. Peterkin said the Foundation has received about $180,000 in pledges toward the camp.
"Norwalk is an amazing community with people that work together and pitch in whenever something's needed," Rilling said.
"That is the beauty of the Norwalk community. That the private sector, the public sector, the service delivery, the non-profits, that we all partner together for the benefit of the community. It's a great place to be for that reason," said Juanita James, president and CEO of the Fairfield County Community Foundation.
James said the Community Foundation wanted to help the camp because of all the good it does for the kids who attend.
"We know the quality, that it isn't just giving kids busy time, that there's real learning going on and it's really benefiting the students and the children," she said. "The Community Foundation feels really happy that this is something we're able to do for Norwalk."
Click here to follow Daily Voice Norwalk and receive free news updates.
