Neighhborhood Notes - Foxhall: 5 April, 2000
One of the healthiest signs of neighborhood vitality is the sound of young children at
play. This summer our Hardy
Recreation Center & Field at 4500 Q St will hold "Hardy Urban Camp",
four two-week sessions, daily 9am - 3pm for children aged five through twelve. (For more
information contact Center Director Ireatha Robinson at 282-2190).
This may sound normal to most readers, but too many of us living around this center
remember only too well that it has been several years since they held regular Sundial
summer programs. More recently, only the herculean unpaid effort of local parent Robin
Bradshaw-Gross and $1,000 donation from Georgetown
University enabled a science component addition to what had become little more than a
child-minding program under a previous Center Director.
What a difference Mrs. Robinson and her soccer-loving co-worker Enrique have made this
year! They are competent, with engaging smiles and a demonstrated genuine love for
children. "Hardy Urban Camp" will offer crafts, nature hikes, tennis,
basketball, soccer, swimming, K9 demo, vegetable growing, ecology tours and most of all
fun!
In addition, the neighboring Rock Creek International
School (in the former Hardy Elementary school building) will continue their long
tradition of multicultural, bilingual "Merry Go Round the World" summer camps,
with choice of English Activity or Spanish, French, Arabic or English Language immersion.
These parallel activities will provide a good opportunity to see how well adults in the
neighborhood and the school can collaborate over time-tabling use of e.g. playing fields. DC Parks & Recreation have a new permit
process for exactly this kind of multiple request, and "Friends of Hardy" have the opportunity for
leadership, to help ensure any adults involved cooperate just as well as all the kids who
are attending either summer camp undoubtedly will.
© Bob Andrew, Foxhall
|
