Last month in August 2018 Allyse Pulliam, owner of Allyse Pulliam Photography, visited the WAMC Summer Enrichment Program while on a photo journalism assignment for the Times-Herald Record newspaper. Along with her journalist colleague, Leonard Sparks, Allyse toured the Pine Island Elementary School facility our Summer Program is so graciously allowed to use thanks to the WVCSD, got to see the Summer Program in action by watching classes and activities as they took place, and learned why the parents of the students choose to call it “Dulce Esperanza”. In her own words on Facebook page Allyse describes what she saw and experienced that day:
“This was one of my favorite assignments that I have worked on in a long time. Dulce Esperanza is a volunteer run and funded summer camp for children of farm workers. It was a wonderful and safe place for these kids, some of them from extremely low income families, to play, be creative, learn and just be kids. What struck me the most is that they were so well behaved. Even though they were given a pretty high level of autonomy, these kids were kind to each other, were very respectful and helpful to the people who worked at the camp, respected camp property and all seemed genuinely thrilled to be there. Thank you to the Warwick Area Migrant Committee for putting together such a wonderful program. You can read more about the camp in an article written by my talented colleague Leonard Sparks here.”
Allyse has been kind enough to let us republish the beautiful photos of the WAMC students she took that day on our web site here. We thank her for doing so and are humbled by her kind words.
The WAMC has begun its After School Program where we focus on “Homework Club”. Many of the children who were part of the WAMC Summer Enrichment Program have returned for the Homework Club. The Homework Club helps migrant workers’ children with their primary school (preschool through high school age children) homework and helps provide after school childcare to make sure the children have a safe place to stay while their parents continue to work the many area agricultural operations throughout the Southern Orange County New York area during the school year. The Homework Club Program is provided at no charge thanks to our partnership with HRH Healthcare’s Alamo Farmworkers Community Center in Goshen, NY along with the generous donations of our private supporters. HRH Healthcare owns and operates the Community Center facility the Homework Club takes place in, as well as, the After School Childcare Program itself.
HRH Healthcare provides and supports many other programs at the Farmworkers Community Center. The WAMC lends its expertise in childhood early and primary school educational enrichment to the After School Program. We provide volunteer staff for the Homework Club, many of whom have a formal childhood educational background as a teaching professional or are working their way towards a childhood education degree (such as student teachers), as well as, with the supplies needed to complete the various homework assignments. The WAMC is grateful for all HRH does for the migrant farm worker community and its assistance in facilitating the Program for the children.
Donations are needed to continue the work we are doing at the Homework Club as the WAMC is completely privately funded by donation. Through our supporters’ generous and selfless donations we are able to continue the educational enrichment work began during the Summer Program into the Fall, Winter, and Spring portions of the primary school year. If you would like to donate to the Homework Club Program you can do so here.
