The purpose of Holiday House is to provide young girls in need with an enriching and healthy respite at a critical time in their developing lives.  One of our main objectives is to foster self-esteem and empower girls to make appropriate choices in the difficult years ahead.  Our camp serves girls ages 7-11 from families whose incomes meet the USDA guidelines for free or reduced lunch.  During four, two-week sessions, over 200 girls from Long Island (100% of our campers are from Long Island) make new friends, learn new skills, and have fun, free from stressful or unstable family situations.  We have but two weeks to touch each young girl with a positive message about herself and the confusing world in which she lives.  We engage campers in traditional camp activities with specific educational goals tailored to the disadvantaged child.  Nutrition, physical fitness, and personal hygiene are emphasized as lifetime habits.

 

We are constantly improving and expanding our various camp programs and activities.  Our Reading Club and Computer Workshop include creative writing and the creation of an “in-house” camp newsletter.  Our Literacy Program is reinforced with visiting authors, illustrators, storytellers, and other performers.  Our Environmental Program seeks to develop a greater awareness and respect for campers’ surroundings, as well as integrating caring attitudes about the environment in their own homes and communities.  To reinforce this, field trips have been made to the Nature Conservancy, Theodore Roosevelt Sanctuary and Cold Spring Harbor Fish Hatchery.  Our very popular Cultural Arts Program has included African drummers & musicians to multi-cultural storytellers and dance/theater company performances.  Our Kids Helping Kids Program assists local schools and scout troops to organize fund-raisers, and to encourage volunteer work at the camp as community service.  In the past, local school children have collected sports equipment and donated new stuffed animals, so each camper has a cuddly friend on their bunk to greet them their first night here.  Scout Troops have planted flower beds, vegetable gardens, designed and created an on site  Nature Trail, helped with “spring clean up”, and built shelves in our library.  Campers learn about international relations and cultural differences from counselors who in past years have come from England, Hong Kong, South Africa, Australia, Guyana, Sweden, Ireland, Russia, Romania and Germany.  These counselors share the fabric of their culture with the campers through play, song and explaining cultural traditions.  The small size of our camp affords the girls the personal attention of the counselors and staff in a nurturing, family atmosphere.