One hour one time

I am so excited about the writing camp my group is offering our local elementary students this summer. Everything is falling into place with very little effort. Our dream of inspiring young people to write is growing in ways we never imagined. I can clearly see that the experiences I have been given over the last few years have helped manifest this dream.

What's really great is the only cost to our small sponsoring group is paper, pencils & pens from the dollar store. With the economy today cheap is a big deal! Future Foundations Family Center, provides us a free room to hold the camp and their staff assists in getting the word out to the students through their summer brochure.

This is our second year of offering a writing camp and we wanted to expand on what we did last year. When I suggested two weeks instead of one I think I noticed one or two in our small group holding their breath. My next comment was, "There is no way we can do this alone-  so we need people from the community to help us".

Together we started coming up with ideas, not generally found in the school day, to inspire young minds to realize that writing is more than essays and books. It is a skill we all use every day. Our number one priority is to make it fun to learn. Sort of like Mary Poppins and her spoonful of sugar.

Because I have volunteered in the community for several years I literally "have people" that have talents that I can tap into. I also recalled a very successful block party I manifested, as the Resource Development Coordinator for our local nursing home. All I did was ask people/groups for $10 in exchange for a space on the facility grounds where they could promote anything they wanted to.The event lasted four hours and brought in over $2,000. 

I pretty much used that same process to locate community help with our writing camp. I knew from my past experience that talking to people in person rather than via the phone would be a better approach and I was right. All I asked for was one hour one time. Not one person said no to me.

This year our writing camp, thanks to some generous caring individuals will offer as inspiration: art, music, newspaper writing, food, a NM video, volcanoes, poetry, interviewing, dialogue and creative writing.

There is absolutely no reason why any group, no matter how small, could not take on a project like this in their community and I hope we have inspired others to follow our lead.