Kateri day camp offers opportunity to children
BY REBECCA MORTON Staff Writer

MARLBORO - Campers of the Collier Services' Kateri day camp, Conover Road, enjoyed a special treat on a recent afternoon.

With sponsorship from the State Street Corporation the campers devoured an assortment of food and took turns on a giant moon bounce amusement.

Jackie St. Angel, the developmental director of the day camp, said a representative of State Street Corporation called to offer a picnic and volunteers who would come to the camp on Aug. 9.

Jackie Flynn, the coordinator of the State Street Corporation's global outreach program in Princeton, was on hand at Kateri to pass out hot dogs to the eager youngsters.

The children rushed to the tents where the food was being dispersed, with some doing their best to get to the head of the line. Then they carefully balanced plates piled high with chicken, hamburgers, hot dogs, corn on the cob, pasta salad, and slices of watermelon. The youngsters washed it all down with a box of chocolate milk.

As she sat in the shade and prepared to enjoy a hot dog, one young girl got her packets of ketchup lined up.

"You've got to have ketchup," she explained.

The camp's front lawn housed the inflatable entertainment. Two inflatable rides were brought to the camp, including one that was a combination fun house and inflatable obstacle course. The sounds of laughter and happiness echoed throughout the 260-acre property.

Flynn said nine volunteers were present, consisting of employees of State

Street Corporation and its subsidiary

Princeton Financial.

According to its Internet Web site, State

Street Corporation is

the world's leading

provider of financial

services to institutional

investors. The company

was founded in 1792 and operates in 26 countries, with headquarters in Boston, Mass.

"This is the first picnic we have sponsored for the children. Each year we sponsor some of the campers so they may be able to come to camp. We try to do as much as we can for the community," Flynn said.

Previously, volunteers from State Street Corporation came to the camp and painted picnic tables.

The volunteers from State Street Corporation and Princeton Financial were having a good time as well. They said the children were very polite and thanked them for the food.

"State Street Corporation supplied everything today. They are so good to us," St. Angel said.

St. Angel explained that all of the Kateri campers come from economically disadvantaged families. She said State Street Corporation sponsored 50 children at the camp this summer.

According to the Collier Services Internet Web site, the cost for a two-week session of camp is $375 and low-income families may be eligible for funding. The camp primarily serves Monmouth County, although children from out of the county may attend. Transportation is only provided to children who live in Monmouth County. On the day of the picnic about 225 children were on hand for the fun.

The camp also receives aid from the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP). The CACFP is a federally funded program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture that provides financial reimbursements to licensed or registered child care providers for serving nutritious meals and snacks to children in their care.

The Kateri day camp was established in 1976 and its aim is to serve children who have a financial need. The camp encourages the children to grow and to learn to respect themselves, each other and the environment.

The campers have a saying they repeat every day, according to St. Angel, who quoted it: "We respect the land, the plants, the people and ourselves."

Evidence of the importance of respecting others was evident when one youngster on the lunch line began to annoy another child, a third youngster told the first camper, "You don't speak like that, not to a girl."

Sister Ellen Kelly, executive director of Collier Services, which is a not-forprofit non-sectarian organization comprised of three distinct programs for youths, said of the camp, "It's a place of learning and fun in a safe environment."

Kelly noted that some children who come to Kateri have never explored nature before arriving at the camp in Marlboro.

The campers are divided into groups based on age and each group is taken care of by a counselor and a junior counselor.

New this year was the addition of specialists who worked at the camp. The specialty areas included reading, dance, nature, games, wellness, drama, art, sports and swim lessons. According to camp director Nate Kraemer, the specialty programs have helped a lot.

One specialty became quite popular among the campers. St. Angel said the reading activities attracted more campers than expected.

Kraemer attributed that development to Marcia Polanco, who inspired the children by asking them what they knew and what they wanted to know about a certain subject.

"Teaching them the things they are curious about interests them," Polanco explained.

The group has been working on astronomy and constructed a large model of the planets. They also learned about the layers of the sun and made papermache models to represent each layer.

Polanco recounted how one camper told her, "You make learning fun."