Summer Camps for Children in Foster Care

(Paramus, NJ) Thanks to a grant of $10,000 from The Gift of Life America Fund, ten children and teens living in foster care have been able to attend camp programs this summer. The children, who range in age from 6 to 17, are all in the care of the Bergen-County-based non-profit Children’s Aid and Family Services. Thanks to this grant, these children have attended a variety of day camps and sleep-over camps at Camp Merryheart, Camp Michikamau, Independent Lake Camp, and Frost Valley. Others have also been able to participate in special interest camps to learn about specific activities, including cooking and basketball.
Bob Jones, Ph.D., president & CEO of Children’s Aid and Family Services said: “Summer camps are a wonderful experience for children, allowing them opportunities to meet other children, try new activities, and learn new skills. Most people take such experiences for granted. But for children in foster care, the opportunity to attend a camp is something truly special – and is only made possible thanks to the generosity of others. I am especially pleased that some of the teens living in our group foster homes have received the chance to attend a cooking camp this year. This has been a very enjoyable experience for them – and has also been an invaluable learning opportunity which will help them as they transition to live independently once they leave our care. I am enormously grateful to the Gift of Life America Fund for their support of each of these children.”

Since its inception in 2004, the Gift of Life America Fund has made numerous awards to families with sick children that are facing overwhelming financial burden, to victims of Hurricane Katrina that have relocated to Bergen County, and to provide nursing care to infants that have been born drug-addicted and are living in foster care. It is currently developing a program to give local hospitals strollers and infant car seats that they can supply free of charge to new parents unable to afford these basic necessities.

The mission of the Gift of Life America Fund is to improve the lives of children under the age of eighteen who are citizens of the United States of America and are economically disadvantaged, in adoptive or foster care, or awaiting adoption, by filling gaps in public funding for medical, dental and ocular needs and supporting services, and/or making funding available for other activities, goods, and/or

activities, goods, and/or services that will enhance the quality of life of these children. The Gift of Life America Fund is open to anyone living in Bergen, Passaic or Hudson Counties in New Jersey. Applications for financial assistance may be made at any time by the parent/s, legal guardian/s or caregiver/s of children in need.

Chaired by Nicholas Laganella II, the Fund’s committee members are: Peter Caminiti, Sr., Lois Horowitz, Hon. Herbert C. Klein, Robert Pimienta, Senator Joseph Coniglio, Raymond H. Hough, Mayor James Tedesco, II, Joseph Gallagher, Robert B. Jones, Elizabeth J. Mason, and Joan M. Wright. The Fund is administered by Children’s Aid and Family Services.

The Gift of Life America Fund raises funds through various special events throughout the year – the next one being a golf outing on Monday, October 23 – and from individual or corporate donations. For more information about the Fund, to make a donation, or to request an application form, please call Liz Mason at Children’s Aid and Family Services: (201) 261-2800.