Editor’s Note: This is a sponsored article.
Empowering Through Education (ETE) Camp is celebrating its tenth consecutive year of operations with a bang.
On April 21 the nonprofit, which is dedicated to providing Haiti’s most vulnerable populations with access to life-changing resources and skills will host a gala in Massachusetts to celebrate 10 years of serving the Hinche community in Haiti.
ETE was founded in 2008 by Haitian-American Shaina Gilbert and her parents. Alongside her father Garry, in 2009 Gilbert officially launched a summer camp with four volunteers from her alma mater Brandeis University. In its first year, a staff of eleven adults hosted the academic, leadership camp with 43 youth participants. Together, they sought to prepare Hinche’s most vulnerable youth to become future leaders of Haiti.
ETE Camp’s youth programs’ enrollment is organized in partnership with local schools whose student body reflects child laborers, orphans, and children from impoverished families. The program provides its participants with two meals a day, snacks, camp T-shirts and bag, and supplies for school, arts & crafts, and recreation. It also features academics classes: literacy, leadership, math and engineering classes. ETE Camp also hosts annual events such as an open house, community-wide closing celebration, a concert, mural painting, movie nights, and a parade. The organization also collaborates with the adult community by providing opportunities for employment and a steady source of income for cooks, a custodians, junior counselors, counselors, and community liaisons. ETE Camp is also a proud supporter of many local microenterprises.
ETE Camp’s support and advocacy work on behalf of the Hinche youth extends to the United States. The 36 American volunteers who have traveled to Haiti to support the organization’s program include university professors, teachers, Haitians, non-Haitians, high school and college students.
Currently, entering its tenth year, ETE Camp has served over 250 youth participants, worked with over 60 adult learners, recruited 36 volunteer camp staff members, and hired 22 native Hinche residents. Today, ETE Camp is committed to providing lifelong support to Hinche residents and aspires to assist in evolving Haiti’s marginalized people into educated, confident leaders.
Click here for more information on the anniversary gala.