For Philadelphia kids, Dream Camp offers free access to sports, art classes, swim lessons and more
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Finding affordable ways to keep your kids busy is a struggle for many parents this summer. But one program is helping some children access education, sports and life skills for free in Philadelphia.
Whether it's swim lessons at the indoor pool, outdoor sports at the rooftop field or art classes alongside friends, there's a little something for every kid at Dream Camp.
"Once you come, it's like you have a family here, like all the friends you meet again for the next year," 14-year-old Zion Hassan said. "It kind of brings you back, keeps it in your heart."
For the first time, ESF, a national camp company, is combining its regular summer programming with its free Dream Camp under one roof at the Friends Select School in Center City.
"I knew if we could ever find the right location in Philadelphia then this could really work," ESF executive director and co-founder Michael Rouse said.
"We have this rich school and facility, but not many kids in the neighborhood here in Philadelphia have access to it during the regular session, but during the summer season, it's wide open and we want to make it possible for them," Michael Gary said.
Gary heads the Friends Select School, and the partnership is a full-circle moment for him.
"This is personal for me because I attended a Dream Camp back in 1977 in New Haven, Connecticut, and it was there that my eyes were opened to the possibilities other than my public school that I had attended," Gary said.
That sense of inspiration is what many hope can be instilled into the nearly 130 students attending the five-week day camp.
"Some kids can end up in places that no kid wants to be and it gets too far," Hassan said. "So, coming to Dream Camp is like a way to escape for the summer."
The program is free for those who apply and qualify and includes food and transportation.
"What we are going through right now as a city, we're being one of the poorest biggest cities in America," site director Lafay Johnson said. "We really need resources for our young people for them to be able to see a light at the end of the tunnel."
