Hope Community Resources, Inc. and students from Ireland created a summer of fun and friendship
in Anchorage this year. Now that the summer is comming to an end, we would like to take
this opportunity to share with all of you some of the activities and experiences that have
taken place throughout the 2005 Camp Cara Summer Recreation Program.
The name of the camp was chosen because of the link between Hope Community Resources and the Irish students
who travel to Alaska to gain and share experience within the orgainization. "Cara" in
the Irish langauage symbolizes friendship and throughout the duration of the recreation
program many friendships have developed.
Erin enjoying Arts & Crafts Having fun in the sun
The summer recreation program began on June 14th, and ran through August 5th. The
program consisted of eight weeks of activity camps starting with a 3 day camp,
with every other week being 5 days consisting of Art, Karaoke, Theatre and Field Trip classes
The eight weeks of camp activities included a wonderful concept of volunteering within the community;
one day out of each week was dedicated to achieving community inclusion and participation.
This included tending to a local public park, planting flowers at the Botanical Gardens and helping
out at the local Boy's and Girl's Club. This volunteerism of the individuals, who choose to utilize of
Hope's services, is a core component in Hope's philosophies and the participants were the practical
realization of this by their 'giving back to the community'.
The camp's activities this year varied from Horse-Riding to visiting the Campbell Creek Science
Center, Boys and Girls Club, The Alaska Zoo, the Imaginarium, the Alaska Native Heritage Center,
panning for gold and also the Theater week which culminated in the performance of a show for the
public, put together by the acting troupe and members of Anchorage Community Theater. This relationship
with ACT continued after the week long camp had ended and they are still closely involved in the
Theater Group that came together within Hope after the Camp had ended. In fact this troupe is still
going strong and will be performing a Christmas Variety Show!
The camp proved to be a great success and was enjoyed by participants and Camp Cara staff. A big thank you
has to go out to everyone who helped with the development and success of the
summer recreation program. We hope that the coming years will prove to be an
even greater success for the program with both old and new faces joining the camps
and classes and experiencing activities that provide lots of fun and the opportunity
to create new friendships.
