Only Six Weeks Left

My name is Dawn Gould and I serve with Downriver CARES, serving Western Wayne and Wayne County.

With only six more weeks left in my term of service with AmeriCorps you would think I would be slowing down, but that’s not likely! We (Downriver CARES) are now in our second week of a free, educational-based summer camp staffed almost entirely by AmeriCorps members from Downriver CARES. This is my second year serving at the summer camp at the River Rouge Community Resource Center. I am teaching second and third grades with another AmeriCorps member, an assistant camp counselor, and two junior counselors.

This year our summer camp has expanded from 75 students to 120 children being served. We are serving kindergarten through high school-age youth. It is an all day camp, running from 9:00a.m. – 3:00 p.m., Monday through Thursday. We offer free breakfast and lunch to all campers and also to neighborhood children who may drop by the Center.

Our camp offers weekly themed topics like botany, space, and weather – to name just a few. We also teach character education, anti drug/alcohol, computers, and group games. The day is packed with fun activities to keep the campers busy and wanting to return. In fact we have had many campers return for a second year. I have a few in my room still, and that really is a rewarding feeling. One little guy told me he was a “veteran” camper, I just loved how he put that!

This is a perfect way to finish my term of service with Downriver CARES AmeriCorps. I know, no matter what lies ahead, I have been trained well for my next adventure and have my supervisor, Joe Spain, to thank for that. He has always been supportive and encouraging to all of us in the program, knowing when to push us farther and when we are at our limits. I couldn’t have asked for a better program director. I will miss all of my fellow members, but I think I will miss my director and his enthusiasm for service more than anything.

AmeriCorps has given me more confidence to try more new things than I thought possible. Thank you so much for the experience and I will never forget our two years of laughter, excitement, some tears, a bit of complaining, and appreciation for what we have in life!!! It was a great ride that went by way to fast!!