by maineseacoast | Aug 6, 2020 | Downeast Campus, EdGE, Maine Seacoast Mission, News, Uncategorized
CHERRYFIELD, ME — Thank you to EdGE Site Coordinator Don Parker for these photos of kids at this year’s EdGE Summer Art/Literacy Summer Camp. As EdGE Interim Director Isaac Marnik writes in his Summer Camp reflection:
An Evelyn S. and K.E. Barrett Foundation grant provided books to all campers and students in the summer meals program. Students selected a few books to read. We bought those specific books for them.
Finally, thank you to EdGE Site Coordinator Jen Kearns for helping put this photo collage together.
by maineseacoast | Aug 6, 2020 | EdGE, Island Outreach, Maine Seacoast Mission, News
Our August 2020 eNewsletter – Online for Reading, Downloading. Click here.
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by maineseacoast | Aug 5, 2020 | COVID-19 Updates, EdGE, Maine Seacoast Mission, News, Uncategorized
CHERRYFIELD, ME — It was a delight to welcome campers to the Downeast Campus in July for an action-packed summer experience. The sound of laughter was abundant as EdGE staff provided the first in person programming since schools closed in March.
We offered four weeks of a modified version of summer camp that followed State of Maine guidelines and CDC recommendations. Our number one priority was keeping students, families, and staff safe. Camp activities were classic EdGE, modified for mask wearing and social distancing. Students took part in cooking, DSLR cameras photography, science experiments, engineering, trail hiking, volleyball, basketball, and many more engaging activities. One summer camp highlight was the opportunity for students to have much-needed social interaction with their peers and EdGE staff.
Through generous grants and partnerships we provided many extras to students attending camp.
Each Friday, the Mission food pantry provided a box of food to all campers and their families. Some families took part in a Good Shepherd Cooking Matters course where they were provided over the four weeks of camp with food for six dinners to cook as a family.
An Evelyn S. and K.E. Barrett Foundation grant provided books to all campers and students in the summer meals program. Students selected a few books to read. We bought those specific books for them.
With a Healthy Acadia grant we provided students activity kits containing STEM, Art, and outdoor activities they could explore and enjoy in August.
by maineseacoast | Jul 28, 2020 | COVID-19 Updates, Downeast Campus, EdGE, Maine Seacoast Mission, News, Weald Bethel Community Center
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Olivia Dyer with EdGE Summer Camper.
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EdGE Summer Camper creating with Olivia Dyer inside Weald Bethel Community Center.
CHERRYFIELD, ME — EdGE Summer Camp. Budding young artists explore foam and Gelli plate printmaking techniques with instructor Olivia Dyer. Thank you, EdGE Site Coordinator Jennifer Kearns for these photos.
Learn more about EdGE Summer Camp.
by maineseacoast | Jul 17, 2020 | Downeast Campus, EdGE, Maine Seacoast Mission, News
CHERRYFIELD, ME — A literacy grant from the Evelyn S. and K.E. Barrett Foundation enables the Maine Seacoast Mission to provide children’s books through the Mission’s EdGE Summer Camp 2020 reading/writing program.
Don Parker, EdGE Site Coordinator at Milbridge Elementary School, works with elementary students through Summer Camp, as well as during EdGE’s regular after-school programs. Of the Summer Camp reading/writing program Don says, “Obviously, a big piece of that is books. We’re really proud of being able to provide every camper a book for every four weeks of camp.” The books are fiction, non-fiction, “involved mostly around the State of Maine. Maine authors. Maine stories,” explains Parker.
Mission President John Zavodny said, “At camp we provide children with free weekly books, reading and writing activities, and daily meals. The camp helps these children develop reading proficiency by the end of third grade, a pivotal time in their development. Students who can’t read proficiently by third grade fall behind academically. They often never catch up and are more likely to drop out of school before earning their high school diploma, limiting their career options, earning power, and quality of life,” President Zavodny explained.
“In addition to the summer camp reading/writing activities, the grant gives us the ability to deliver free books to student homes, and encourage the children to read and participate in online activities. This summer, as a result of the coronavirus situation which reduced summer food options in the community, we are delivering weekly meals to the homes of would-be campers and other EdGE students,” Zavodny said. These deliveries will include books, providing nourishment for the mind as well as food.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity for local kids,” added Don Parker. “It teaches kids the importance of books and how fun and enriching books can be. It can be really rewarding for a teacher, an adult, a camp counselor, to sit at the heart of a circle and have those children listen to you read this story, this adventure. We want the book to be more than words on a page. We want it to be an experience. This reading/writing program helps us have that experience together. It’s important. I’m honored to be part of it,” said Parker.
Thanks to the Evelyn S. and K.E. Barrett Foundation, a tradition of summer reading continues.
Learn more about EdGE Summer Camp.
by maineseacoast | Jul 14, 2020 | COVID-19 Updates, Downeast Campus, EdGE, Maine Seacoast Mission, News
CHERRYFIELD, ME — Maine Seacoast Mission’s modified EdGE Summer Camp is well underway in Cherryfield. Our number one priority is keeping the children, families, and staff healthy and safe. At the same time, our camp goers are learning or polishing skills, such as how to visualize and capture great digital photographs.
Learn more about EdGE Summer Camp 2020.
