Every year, parents inevitably think about summer
plans for their children. The questions then become “where will my child go?”
and “how will I pay for it?” For Sharonica Williams, the first question was
easy to answer. After a successful summer in 2013, her 9 year old son Julian
had his heart set on the YM&YWHA of Washington Heights and Inwood’s (The Y)
Camp Yomawha. As for the second question, Sharonica and Julian came up with a
more creative answer.
“Julian attended camp Yomawha
last summer for the first time and he loved it” says Sharonica, and Julian had
his heart set on returning for a full summer. He was eager to participate in
some of his favorite camp activities like swimming, nature walks, and more.
Julian was especially excited for Camp Yomawha’s new 3-day overnight adventure
where day campers get a taste of sleep-away camp life. Unfortunately, a
full-summer camp program can be out of reach for a single mom working hard to
provide for her family even with generous scholarships, but that wasn’t going
to stop them from making Julian’s dream come true. “I became determined to make
it happen.” Sharonica began to explore new ways to raise the funds for Julian,
and her search led her to crowd-funding. “A colleague told me about Indiegogo
so we decided to try it. I created the campaign through the website and
Julian and I created ‘perks’ or incentives to encourage people to donate to his
summer camp fund.” Sharonica was skeptical, but she knew it couldn’t hurt.
Julian got very excited about the project. “I thought it was a great idea
because we have tons of friends!” No one could have predicted what happened
next.
Through social promotion among
friends alone, Sharonica was able to send Julian to Camp Yomawha for the entire
summer. She was even able to purchase Julian a brand new bathing suit and camp
necessities like towels and sunblock. “It exceeded my expectations” said
Sharonica. “I was humbled and feel so blessed that people came together to help
us.” With the help of community-wide donations and a single private donation of
$1,000, Sharonica was able to raise over $4,000 for Julian. You can see the
progress Julian made on his campaign here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/help-send-julian-to-camp-yomawha-for-the-summer/x/7925114
“Julian is clearly a camper that
loves camp” says Adam Benmoise, Camp Director at Camp Yomawha. “You can see it in his face every morning
when he runs for the bus, and throughout the day at activities. The fact that he took this incredible
initiative on his own to make this summer happen for him is absolutely
remarkable. It's an incredible example
for other campers and staff as to what one individual is capable of when they
care enough about something.”
"As an institution committed to youth
engagement, our goal is annually to provide as much in the way of scholarship
as possible to our families” said Alan Scher, Managing Director of Youth and
Family Services at the Y. “Thanks to the generosity of our funders, we are able
to assist many families who are struggling financially to participate in our
programming, but there is always unfortunately a limit. We hope Julian’s inspirational
story can provide a template for future philanthropic investment from our
incredible community."
