Tight times now at the Kids Summer Workshops

Lopez Kids Summer Workshops (KSW) is the only summer-time enrichment and recreational program offered on Lopez Island.

March 5, 2010 7:54 pm
Children on a Nature Exploration Adventure as part of a previous KSW.
Children on a Nature Exploration Adventure as part of a previous KSW.

Lopez Kids Summer Workshops (KSW) is the only summer-time enrichment and recreational program offered on Lopez Island.

KSW began 16 years ago and quickly took hold and blossomed into an indispensible community resource that opened up new worlds of opportunity to many of the island’s at-risk and under-served youth. It also offers island youth a chance to meet and interact with youth from off island who are visiting relatives or spending the summer on Lopez.

We are very concerned about the future of this wonderful program. This year Lopez Kids’ Summer Workshops has lost $5,000 of county funding.

One of the reasons this program has been so successful is that we have kept it affordable to local families. Parent fees pay for half of the program the rest comes from generous local contributions: the Lopez Lions Club, United Way of San Juan County, Grace Church and individual donors.

Furthermore, the LIFRC offers over $5,000 annually in scholarship support that provides for any child whose family cannot afford to pay the class fee. The LIFRC is proud to say that no child has ever been turned away for lack of ability to pay for a class.

The Lopez Island Family Resource Center and the Lopez Community Center for the Arts are co-sponsoring the film festival Radical Reels on Sunday afternoon, March 14, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. We will be selling tickets in advance as well as at the door: $10 for adults, $5 for youth (6 and under get in free) to raise funds for the two organizations.

The cost of bringing the Radical Reels Tour to Lopez Island has been generously sponsored by a local family so all proceeds can go to the LIFRC and the LCCA. We are hoping this fundraiser will help with the deficit of the KSW program funding.

Radical Reels is a part of the Banff Mountain Film Festival, which is held annually in the fall. The Radical Reels Tour presentation focuses on dynamic, high adrenaline films featuring sports such as skiing, climbing, kayaking, BASE jumping, snowboarding and mountain biking.

For more information call the Family Resource Center: 468-4117