Prescott Farm Environmental Education Center on White Oaks Road in Laconia was thrilled to receive a grant from the Hearts & Hands Thrift Shop in Meredith, to help fund its WildQuest Summer Camp Scholarship Fund. The $1,500 grant will provide assistance to at least six campers this summer, allowing children from all walks of life access to Prescott Farm’s hands-on environmental education camps. WildQuest Summer camp offers nine unique nature-themed weeks of outdoor day camp, from June 25 – August 24, 2018, for campers aged 4-14, with half- and full-day programs for campers ages 4-5; full-day programs for campers ages 6-12; and a Leadership in Training Program for campers ages 13 & 14. Camp registration is now open online at prescottfarm.org.
“Our mission is to open the doors to the natural world for children and people of all ages, allowing them to make connections with nature and the environment,” says Jude Hamel, Executive Director of Prescott Farm. “Access to nature and those important learning moments should not be a class issue; these scholarship monies allow us to provide assistance for more local children to explore the outdoors.”
Hearts & Hands Thrift Shop, located at 8 Maple Street, Suite 4 in Meredith, is a joint venture between the Catholic, Episcopalian and Congregational congregations of Meredith, providing low-cost, high-quality thrift items to the community, with all proceeds being directed back into the local community through grants and other donations. Hearts & Hands Thrift Shop opened in its current location in August 2017, and started making community grants over a year ago, to everything from the Historical Society to children’s camps and arts programs, including getting robotics programs up and running in three local schools.
“Our goal is to fund programs that break the cycle for children and families, not just provide a bandage,” says Tom Witham, Executive Board member and the Treasurer of Hearts & Hands Thrift Shop. “The store has been more successful than we ever imagined, and we continue to grow, working on new ideas with even more dramatic results.”