Every table under the trees in one area of Patterson Park was filled with children in bright green T-shirts bent to their lessons. It was quiet, considering about 100 children were gathered there.
It didn’t take long, however, for the tables to empty and nearby fields and playgrounds to fill with the shouts and laughter of children at play at Camp St. Vincent, an outreach of St. Vincent de Paul of Baltimore.
Inascent, 14, comes for the art. (Out of respect for the children at the camp, the Review uses only their first names). The rising freshman at Dundalk High School is attending Camp St. Vincent for the first time, along with her 5-year-old brother Jurnee. “I love art time,” she said. “I wish we had more time for it.”
It’s the little things that matter, too. “I’m glad to have ice-cold water,” she said. Big orange water dispensers await thirsty campers on every picnic table.
Camp St. Vincent returned to the East Baltimore park this summer. Last year’s session was held inside area homeless shelters, where families were hunkered down for the COVID-19 pandemic.
Some signs of the pandemic remain. The children wear masks inside and are encouraged to wear them outside. The number of campers was capped at 100. Groups are limited to 10, instead of the usual 25 from previous years, according to Robert Spencer, the camp’s director.
Spencer, a Baltimore City school teacher, is in his 12th year as director of the camp, which began in 1907 and is in its 115th season. The eight-week camp, which concludes Aug. 13, focuses exclusively on children experiencing homelessness.
Children arrive by bus every morning at 8:30 in time for breakfast. Their day is filled with reading and math, art and science, and lots of play time. The children go on weekly trips, including to Annapolis, the bowling alley and a skating rink.
Spencer noted that after more than a year in isolation, many of the children need some social-emotional learning to help them re-acclimate to being around their peers.
“They lost a lot of their social skills because of this isolation,” said Spencer, who notes that Black students rub shoulders with staffers of multiple races. “It’s good to see the relationships. … This camp embodies true American values.”
“Every kid here in a green shirt is dealing with trauma,” added Darren Foster, assistant director. Now in his 11th year, he is headed to Johnston Square Elementary School for the 2021-22 school year, to teach pre-kindergarten. Previously the camp’s volunteer coordinator, Foster praises the dedication and care of those people.
“The volunteers are the blood, sweat and tears of this camp,” he said. “The volunteers are their (the children’s) friends.”
Together, campers and volunteers alike endure the heat, take shelter from the rain, and enjoy the same activities.
Aylise James, 16, a rising sophomore at Baltimore City College, decided to volunteer because she loved the staff when she was a camper.
“I had a favorite counselor the first year I came,” James said. “I’ve always wanted to volunteer because I went here.”
She is one of 17 high school students – from Dulaney, Towson, City College, Roland Park Country School and Maryvale Preparatory School – volunteering this summer.
Victoria Fuller started volunteering at Camp St. Vincent when she was a student at Maryvale. She signed on for a two-week stint – and stayed all summer. As a student at Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia, she returned as an intern and now is back for her seventh summer.
“I fell in love and never left,” said Fuller, a group instructor with 5- and 6-year-olds. “I am here for the kids. I know for a fact this is what they need.”
Fuller, who will enter the University of Baltimore and pursue her masters in criminal justice administration and a law degree, isn’t unusual among the staff.
“We don’t get a lot of turnover,” said Foster, pointing to several staffers who have worked at the camp five years or more.
Among the children, however, the goal is the opposite.
“The hope is they don’t come back to camp. If they come back that means they’re still homeless,” Foster said. “The camp brings hope to a lot of people.”
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