Borough Park

Met Council gives kids a chance to sit around the camp fire

July 22, 2014 By Paula Katinas Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Jessica Gelfand and Jennifer Bunin, interns in the Met Council’s Family Violence prevention program, helped coordinate the scholarship program
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Sixty kids from Brooklyn and Queens are getting the chance to enjoy swimming, camping, volleyball and other fun-filled activities at summer camp, thanks to the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, which expanded a scholarship fund it runs to enable the kids to get out of the city.

The funds were provided by Lizzy and Bryce Markus, according to the Met Council, which is providing the camp scholarships to 60 children from families living below 300 percent of the poverty level ($71,550 for a family of four). The families got to select the summer camp their child is attending.

Kids from several Brooklyn neighborhoods, including Borough Park, Flatbush, Crown Heights, Coney Island, Marine Park and Williamsburg benefitted from the summer camp scholarships.

“Our social service programs are designed to aid, sustain and empower poor and near-poor New Yorkers,” said Met Council CEO and Executive Director, David M. Frankel.

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Frankel said summer camp is about a lot more than just having fun. “This year’s camp scholarship fund will aid families in meeting their childcare needs, sustain the children’s growth and development during the summer months, and empower them to gain confidence and learn new skills in a safe a nurturing environment,” he said.

“We thank the extraordinary generosity of the Markus family,” Frankel said. He also thanked community organizations in the targeted neighborhoods “who worked with us to select deserving families.”

The Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, also known as Met Council, was founded in 1972 to address poverty among Jewish New Yorkers.

Today, more than 500,000 Jewish New Yorkers live near, at, or below the poverty line, according to the Met Council leaders, who said the number has doubled since 1991.

Since its founding, the Met Council has evolved into a provider of social services that help all New Yorkers, regardless of age, sex, religion, race or ethnicity.

The Met Council works in partnership with a network of local Jewish community councils to help the needy. For more information, visit www.metcouncil.org.

 


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