Originally published on Vienna Patch
By Michelle Witte, Patch Staff
VIENNA, VA – A summer camp that encourages kids to volunteer in their communities is coming to Vienna.
The nonprofit day camp Kids Give Back has already sold out its first mini-camp in Vienna, but slots remain for camps in Oakton and Reston later this summer for parents who want to give their kids an early experience of community service.
Founded in 2019 by Denise Gavilan, an Annandale mom, the camps give elementary school kids ages 6-12 a chance to contribute to local community organizations by writing letters, creating crafts, assembling care packages and more.
Gavilan told Patch on Tuesday that she started Kids Give Back when she realized there weren’t any ongoing opportunities for younger children to volunteer, only sporadic ones through schools and other youth organizations.
Kids give back through hands-on projects
At Kids Give Back, service is the whole game. The program starts by introducing kids to the concept of volunteering and what the camp calls the 4 Ts: “using your time, talent, and teamwork to make treasures, something of value for the community,” Gavilan explained.
In addition to doing the hands-on projects, which can involve making art, cooking, packing and assembling and all kinds of other activities, the kids discuss the 4 Ts, talk about how each project makes them feel and write in reflection journals about their experiences.
Next week, the kids in Vienna will make snack packs for an organization called Home Stretch in Falls Church. They’ll also learn why they’re making the snack packs. “We will read a book on food insecurity,” Gavilan says. “We will talk about what that means to not have enough food in your community or in your home. We’ll talk about being respectful of the food your parents give you.”
There are also multiple lessons to be learned from each project – kids will weigh the packs they made, guess how much they cost and interact with the project from several real-world angles.
Another example is the current camp’s Art2Hearts project, for which the kids are painting artwork for pediatric hospitals. They’ll talk about hospitals, what might make the walls there look nice, and talk about how it feels to use their talents to make art for those kinds of places.
The kids get a lot of satisfaction out of their projects, Gavilan says. “They’re like, ‘Wow, we filled 100 snack packs, we are so great.’ … It’s about building pride in their work.” The camp also tries to enlist speakers from the different groups they support to drop by and thank the kids for their work.
Kids learn cooperation, not competition
The camp fosters a sense of community among the children as well, Gavilan says. Last year, a parent told her, “One of the reasons I keep sending my kids to your camp is there’s no competition.” Instead, the kids work as a team. “They’re ages 6-12. They’re from schools all over Fairfax County. They have every different ability,” but they come together and understand, “what we are here to do as a group is give back to our community.”
“It’s a great observation of why we exist,” Gavilan said.
Kids at the Vienna mini-camp will do projects to benefit Homestretch, Hope for Grieving Families, Second Story, All Ages Read Together, Comfort Cases and Art2Hearts.
How to sign up for Kids Give Back
Kids Give Back currently offers camps in Fairfax, Oakton and Vienna, and the organization is fundraising to launch camps in Reston, Alexandria and Falls Church. Later this summer, there are slots available for camps in Fairfax and Oakton.
Families can find out more about the camps here.
