Yellow Bus Summer Camp
In 2013, Faces without Places will hold its 16th annual summer camp, our flagship program. The Yellow Bus Summer Camp is an eight-week educational and enrichment-based program for local children experiencing homelessness. Each day, our campers (ages five to twelve) spend their mornings focused on literacy, math, and nutrition lessons delivered by certificated teachers and their afternoons in enrichment, fitness and other activities. One day a week is generally reserved for an off-site field trip. FwP provides transportation and breakfast and lunch to the campers each day, completely free of charge.
Year after year, our summer camp has consistently shown tremendous results and has proven to be a unique, fun, and rewarding experience for our campers. Our testing at the beginning and end of camp demonstrates that over 70% of campers retain or increase their literacy and math skill levels. In addition, parent and camper surveys reveal that campers experienced substantially more enrichment activities than would have otherwise been available to them. Our camp is crucial for these children in two main ways: (1) it provides much needed supplemental academic lessons to help them catch up with their peers, and (2) it offers a fun and rewarding alternative to being cooped up indoors in shelters or other difficult living conditions, often without air-conditioning.
In 2012, The Yellow Bus Summer Camp ran from June 11 to August 2. The theme was, “Healthy Me, Healthy You, Healthy’s what we’re gonna do!” Our campers arrived at 9am and stayed until 3:30pm and were divided into three classrooms for the morning lessons based on their age (5-7, 8-9, 10-12). Most of our campers came from homeless shelters, motels, and multi-family homes in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky.
We look forward to another successful camp in 2013! The Camp begins on June 10 and runs until August 1. This year’s theme is, Promoting Healthy Habits Around the World. Please contact Shelley at Shelley@faceswithoutplaces.org for more information.
Thanks to our 2012 Yellow Bus Summer Camp Supporters:
Darcus Anderson, Lynne Aronson, The Bahman Foundation, Wini Bruening, Sandy Downing, The Charles Dater Foundation, The Davidson Family, Day Spring Church of God, Dewey’s Pizza, Dream Academy, Canine Justice Network, Channel 5, Channel 9, Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati Ballet, Cincinnati Fire Prevention Team, Cincinnati Reds Community Fund, Cincinnati Women’s Club, Cincy Smiles, Eagle Burgmann, Excel Club, Fill the Truck, Foundation for Ohio River Education, Frances Clare, Frostee’s Challenge, GE, Gift of Sight, Girl Scouts, Happen Inc., Higher Branches, Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition, Jeff Thomas Catering, King’s Island, KPMG, Krohn Conservatory, Lee Chapel, Rob Linneman, Mayerson Service Learning Program, McDonalds, Macy’s, Ohio Foodbanks-AmeriCorps VISTA, Anthony Otten, Panera Bread, Pastor Coady, Pastor Mingo, Elaine Polson, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Procter & Gamble Fund-GCF, Procter & Gamble R&D Staff, The Reinhart Family, Jenn Sandman, The Spjut Family, Sara Stacy, Julie Schwanencamp, Starfire University, Stone’s Lanes, Strategies to end Homelessness, Summertime Kids-GCF, Toyota, University of Cincinnati Internship Program , Volunteers of America, The Westrich Family, Whole Again International
ZooMatesTM
ZooMatesTM, now in its seventh year, is a mentoring program that matches elementary students with students attending a local university (this year we are partnering with Xavier University). The mentors and mentees build relationships through participation in weekly after school field trips and educational and enrichment activities at the Cincinnati Zoo, their school and the university.
Working with certificated teachers, FwP develops activities to integrate academic material from the classroom into these sessions. Mentees, with the aid of their mentors, delve into hands-on activities that require higher level thinking skills to facilitate a greater understanding of academic content in the areas of Zoology, Ecology and Biology.
Greater interpersonal growth presents itself naturally as the mentoring relationships progress. The program not only exposes mentees to new experiences and skills, but also provides mentees with positive role models who are able to convey the importance of higher education. Both the mentee and mentor have consistently reported benefitting from their experiences together. This symbiotic relationship is the cornerstone on which ZooMatesTM was built.
Please contact Shelley at Shelley@faceswithoutplaces.org for more information!
My Little Library Program
Often, children who are experiencing homelessness are staying in homeless shelters with their families. It is difficult for these children to do their homework or often to just read a book. It might be too noisy or busy, or they may not even have a book to read. Additionally, their parents may be dealing with housing, employment, financial and health issues and reading books with their children must become less of a priority.
Faces without Places needs your help to bring one-on-one reading experiences to children in homeless shelters in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, at least once a week. Our library is stocked with brand new books (for kids of all ages) that are waiting to be shared with children who need the stimulation and comfort of the stories and characters inside them.
Please contact Megan at Megan@faceswithoutplaces.org or (513) 389-0805 to get involved!
The Birthday Club
A year in anyone’s life deserves to be celebrated. When you are a child, birthdays are an even bigger milestone, inevitably becoming important memories to cherish and look back on later in life.
Faces without Places offers groups (such as businesses, churches or other organizations) the chance to take birthday parties into homeless shelters. The volunteers provide food, cake, crafts and games for children living in transition. A smile is brought to the face of all involved!
Please contact Megan at Megan@faceswithoutplaces.org or (513) 389-0805 to get involved!