YMCA program needs campers
Weekly field trip, swimming among activities

By Aaron Powell Jr.
Dayton Daily News

DAYTON | Television, video games and movies have become the summertime trifecta for children on break from school.

But Gayle Horton hopes to change that.

Horton, the executive director of the YMCA Neighborhood Development Center's Dixon staff, is heading a summer day camp at Fairview Elementary School.

Horton said although day camp would be perfect for a number of children in the neighborhood, the program has been plagued with low enrollment.

"From 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. they get fed, they get a weekly field trip and they get to swim three days a week," she said. "But we're just not full."

Last week, the day camp had seven children attending. Horton said they can accommodate up to 50 children. The original staff had to be downsized because of the low numbers of children at the camp.

"We're trying to offer a program for people in this neighborhood who work so that their kids have somewhere to go while they're working," she said.

The price of the camp is $100 a week, but Horton said for parents worried about the cost, income-based scholarships are available. All the activities the children do are included in the price, which for most people is $50 per week after scholarships.

"We do arts and crafts, swimming, group activities and we go on a field trip once a week," she said. Last week, the children went to Young's Jersey Dairy near Yellow Springs.

Horton believes that part of their low-enrollment problem is due to the fact that this is the first summer in five years that the day camp has been running.

"I don't know if it's that the parents don't trust us yet," she said. "It takes a lot to put your kid in a new program."

Horton said the Fair River Oaks Council Priority Board office handed out flyers for the day camp.

"We worked with Karen DeMassie at the Phoenix Project, and they helped a lot," she said. "We bought supplies, hired staff and got to work."

The city of Dayton opens a nearby pool an hour early so the children can swim two to three days a week. A staff member is on hand as a certified lifeguard. Most staff members, Horton said, have been through at least 80 hours of training.

Horton believes the camp offers a positive alternative to kids sitting at home and watching television.

"You talk about the obesity rate being as high as it is, and sometimes it is because kids are just sitting around," she said. "They don't sit at our camp. We want them to feel tired when they get home and wake up feeling healthy."

Horton said the YMCA's core values of caring, honesty, respect and responsibility gives her staff motivation to do the day camp.

"We just really want them to be great people," she said. "Because they're next. Youths are our future. The YMCA is all about kids, and giving kids this awesome opportunity."

Kashauna Shepherd, 26, is the site administrator for the Fairview day camp. During the school year, Shepherd, who has been working with YMCAs in Cincinnati and Dayton for eight years, works with the before- and after-school program at the YMCA.

Watching the children splash about in the water, Shepherd makes sure they are having safe fun and looks forward to the rest of the week.

The camp runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, with a precamp from 7 to 9 a.m. and an after-camp from 4 to 6 p.m. The day camp runs until Aug. 5. YMCA Neighborhood Development Centers also offer the day camps at Possum Creek MetroPark and at the United Theological Seminary in Trotwood.

For more information, call 854-9622 or register at ymcaonline.org.

Contact Aaron Powell Jr. at 225-2252.