About the Los Pueblos Day Camps
Singing Creek Educational Center, a nonprofit in Cottage Grove, Oregon, provides free day camp for Guatemalan children in Cottage Grove each year.
These camps provide breakfast, lunch, transportation to and from the site, and a history/nature/culture based experience. Children ages 6 – 10 enjoy cooking, crafts, stories, music, movement and games based on Guatemalan and Mexican traditional culture. Rooted in history and embracing modern culture as well, this camp offers friendship, fun, learning, and outdoor play time (including swimming in the river in summertime.) Our staff instructors are Janet Hernandez (a Latina) and Willow Chester. Camp is bilingual English and Spanish, with occasional Mam language as well.
Funding generously provided by: Yarg Family Foundation, City of Cottage Grove, Cow Creek Umpqua Indian Tribe, Roundhouse Foundation.
We partner with the Early Learning Center in Cottage Grove, which features La Plaza, a resource area for families that serves many Guatemalan immigrants. Support also comes from South Valley Athletics and Community Sharing Food Pantry.
The parents and kids love these camps and request enrollment every year as soon as they open. Janet relays to us that the camps have a huge impact on these children’s lives as they learn to navigate their place in a new culture and a new country. Many of them have gone through hardships including food insecurity and immigration issues.
The camp includes one week during Spring Break at the Cottage Grove Community Center. We serve up to 11 kids per week with these wonderful camps.
Click through the slider to see photos, below.
