Healthy Doses of Summer

For many children, summer is filled with trips to the pool, chasing fire-flies in the backyard and adventures at sleep-away camp. There is time to play and dream. But homeless children can easily miss out on such treats. Enter the Homeless Children’s Playtime Project, which offers creative play opportunities with a goal of counteracting the trauma of homelessness and ensuring healthy development. Year-round, the youth embark on field trips, participate in art and imaginative play, and celebrate holidays together. And this summer, in partnership with the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop, HCCP children are able to attend summer camp. Here they spend their morning dancing and doing arts and crafts, and head out on field trips in the afternoon. Children who would have otherwise been in the confines of a shelter are now able to enjoy their summer vacation just as much as their classmates.