The Boys and Girls Club of Contra Costa has introduced its new free summer pop-up camps at Cambridge Park in Concord. Every Friday from 9A-11AM, boys and girls from ages 6-18 can enjoy outdoor activities involving art projects, science programs, and sports.
The camp launched on June 25 with approximately 48 registered campers. Activities included making tie dye masks, soccer, and for science, building solar smores ovens. (Ovens made of a cardboard box, aluminum foil and wax paper that actually melts marshmallows on the graham cracker.)
“Parents have been very appreciative,” says Concord Vice Mayor Dominic Aliano who spearheaded the project.
“There is not enough community services that serve kids ages 5-18. After seeing what the Boys and Girls Club do in Martinez, I knew that I should work with them to come to Concord to provide those service to the Monument District.”
Aliano said when growing up in Concord, he was always aware that there was not enough after school programs and during the summer not enough day programs for the youth.
“In the Monument, you have parents working two and three jobs to make ends meet, and the kids have nothing to do, and no safe place to be. This program provides a child an opportunity to decide who he wants to be in life. And give them the tools to break through some of the barriers they are born into.”
The pop-up camps are an interim plan. Aliano and the Boys and Girls Club are in the process of looking for a store front or place to establish a home in the Monument community. “We hope we can find that location by January of 2022.”
Concord Police Officers Association and Marathon Petroleum are initial donors that funded the Pop-up Summer camps. Fundraising will be ongoing as they look for grants and donations to continue the program beyond the summer.
Donors need to let the Boys and Girls Club know that any donation is specifically for Concord services; otherwise, the donation will fall into a general fund.
“I’m not exaggerating when I say, we will change kids lives with these programs,” Aliano emphasized.
Boys and Girls club has been operating in Martinez since 1955, but never in Concord. Director of Operations, Keirstan Faulkner grew up in the Martinez Boys and Girls Club from age 9 through High School.
“Boys and Girls Club changes lives, and it definitely changed mine,” she confirmed.
The camp is free. Register Online at:
www.bgccontracosta.org/summer2021