Attend the Children's Benefit Concert and Help to Send Needy Kids to Summer Camp

Here is a letter from Dorothy Yewer, Chair of the Children's Benefit Concert: The Church of St. James the Less in collaboration with Westchester Reform Temple and The Children's Aid Society will hold their 8th annual benefit concert at the Recital Hall at SUNY Purchase Performing Arts Center on March 21st at 7 pm.

Proceeds from the event will be used to send underprivileged children from Mt. Vernon to summer camp. Since its inception, over 350 children from the Edward Williams School have gone to the Children's Aid Society's, Camp Wagon Road in Chappaqua, New York. At camp, the kids get to experience the joys of childhood. Additionally, while there, they are fed both breakfast and lunch. This is essential as many of these kids qualify for the federal Free Lunch program. When school is out, the programs that are in place to see to it that these meals are served disappear, so camp takes on an extra significance.

I have been lucky to work with these children and to get to know them individually. At first blush I didn't completely grasp the overwhelming void camp fills in their lives. I thought it was a place to play, but I didn't appreciate the importance of spontaneous play. There are studies that show that the brain develops differently when a child is exposed to the natural world. There is a model referred to as the "curriculum of camp" that draws into focus behavioral differences that are exhibited between inner city kids who have been to camp and those who have not. What the findings show is that the children who experiences nature, and unrestricted play are able to make better choices later in life. Of course, this is true for all children, but the real difference here is that the children we are helping from Mt. Vernon do not have the ability to enjoy the many benefits of the outdoors that are so easily accessible to all of us. These children have little opportunity to get outside as the parks near their homes are too dangerous.

What all this means is that as a community we are giving our neighbors to the south a chance at a better life. The kids who have had the great good fortune to go to Wagon Road are changed. They are learning to be forgiving, to be gentle, to try new things, to jump high and to laugh easily. They are learning to let go of their worries and to face challenges bravely. They are learning what it means to give back. They are learning simple lessons too, like what it means to be on time, because being late means missing the bus and a day at camp. They are learning about fresh fruit and how to eat a balanced meal; they are learning the joy of having something to look forward to.

Our 8th Annual Outreach Children's Benefit Concert is taking place on March 21st at 7 pm at SUNY Purchase Performing Arts Center. Join us and help send a child to camp as every single dollar raised in ticket sales will to go directly to this cause. To buy a ticket, click here www.artscenter.org. or call the box office at 251-6200. We plan to fill the house and raise the roof to celebrate a world-class concert under the baton of internationally acclaimed conductor Justin Bischof and his 60-piece orchestra.

Justin is the Co-Founder and Artistic Director of the benefit and has made all of this possible. In addition, there will be the combined adult choirs of St. James the Less, Trinity Church Ossining and IHM of Scarsdale and New Amsterdam Singers of New York City. We are very excited that over 75 children will be singing including 30 children from Mt. Vernon. How empowering it is for the Mount Vernon kids to take part in an evening of which they are the beneficiaries. Children from Fox Meadow School, St. James the Less and Westchester Reform Temple will join to make the combined choir. The concert will close with all of the children and adults, as well as you the audience, joining in on a classic gospel piece. It promises to be a fun time!

See you on the 21st!

Dorothy E. Yewer
Co-Founder & Benefit Chair