MARIANNE PATON Resembling a genuine midway, to celebrate the end of the season, children attending the Matlacha Parks and Rec. Summer Camp were treated to a carnival day thanks to the generosity of island businesses, organizations and individuals.

From carnivals to pizza parties, island children who attended this year’s summer camp program seemed to have it all. According to program director Nina Richter, none of this would have been possible without the help of island residents and organizations.

“We are only provided with a very small budget from the county to hold summer camp each year which essentially would allow us to purchase basic art supplies only,” said Richter. “We are very fortunate in that our Parks and Rec program is located in such a generous community, as our kids can enjoy a variety of activities that no other program in the county can offer.”

Among those contributing to the program are the Ladies of the Elks, the Matlacha Mariners, the Matlacha Hookers, Pine Island Art Association and the Bobby Holloway Foundation.

“Thanks to the Bobby Holloway Foundation, one of the activities we provide to the children each year is a field trip to the Broadway Palm Dinner Theater in Fort Myers,” said Richter. “This year the kids saw a performance of ‘Cinderella’ and we even had enough funding to hire a bus to provide transportation to and from the theater.”

Others who contributed to the success of the 2010 summer camp program include the Matlacha-PIne Island Fire Department, Pizza Bella, the Pine Island Pool, Great Licks Ice Cream and the Waterfront Restaurant.

“One of our outings this summer was lunch at the Waterfront in St. James City. It was a great experience and I am sure that we had several children whose families cannot afford to eat out, so it was a real treat for them,” said Richter.

In addition to the trips to Broadway Palm and the Waterfront, the children also were treated to a Luau Day, a pizza party, a lunch of subs from Publix, ice cream, cupcake decorating, T-shirts to decorate themselves, a trip to the Pine Island Pool and wrapping up the season was a carnival.

“The carnival is one of our special days at camp. We are able to hire a company to come and set up a bounce house, giant inflatable slide and a haunted house and to add to the carnival atmosphere, the kids also are given cotton candy and sno-cones,” said Richter. “This is the day the children look forward to most and, again, it would not have been possible without the aid of the community.”

In addition to funding from island businesses and organizations, other donations have been presented to sponsor children for summer camp.

“Each year we find ourselves surprised with unexpected donors,” said Parks and Rec employee Sue Slingerland. “For example, we had a grandmother who paid to have her granddaughter attend a session, but the child became homesick and rather than ask for a refund, she asked us to sponsor another child to attend in her granddaughter’s place. On top of that, she even wrote out another check to sponsor a second child. While this doesn’t happen every day, I am always surprised at how often it does.”

According to Richter, each session of summer camp held at the Parks and Recreation facility in Matlacha, has 50 to 60 children attending. The program, which runs throughout the summer months, is geared to students from 6 to 13 years of age, with programs running from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

For more information, or to make a donation, call 283-4110.