The Boys and Girls Club Summer Camp Program reaches out to all the youngsters of Rosarito

By: The Baja Times

Source: Baja Times Vol. XLI No. 180 July 16-31, 2012

The young boys and girls of Rosarito Beach will soon be enjoying an entirely new summer (and beyond) experience and they can thank three long-gone American Massachusetts matrons for it.

It was back in 1906 that these ladies began searching for a way to get kids with too much time on their hands out of harm’s way. Their fledgling efforts grew into the Boys and Girls Club of America concept which has, over a century later, finally moved south-of-the-border, first to Tijuana and now, thanks to the efforts of local club President Rosy Torres, to Rosarito. 

You can be part of the festivities too, and, if you’re altruistically inclined, be part of the ongoing process, as well.
On July 17th, you’re invited to the Inauguración (Grand Opening) of the Casa Club Campamento de Verano (The Boys and Girls Club of Rosarito’s Summer Day Camp). The ribbon cutting ceremony, under the auspices of the Honorable Hugo Torres, will precede a tour of the facilities. You can find the center of all of this excitement by heading through the arch marked ‘Rosarito Shores’…just south of the entrance to the Rosarito Beach Hotel …and following the signs. Many private volunteers and business entities from Mexico, the United States, and Canada have given time, effort, money, and materials to make this dream a reality.

From 9:00 AM until 1:00 PM, five days a week, an incredible program of activities will be provided to local children by painstakingly vetted teachers and coaches. The initial roster of events to be offered includes arts/crafts, basketball, computer skills, creative writing, dance, English, futbol (soccer), games, interaction with animals, music, racquetball, reading, and volleyball. 

After the summer camp schedule runs its six-week course, the location will function as the first outpost of the Club de Niños y Niñas Sección Rosarito while a much larger permanent facility is completed adjacent to the Sharp Electronics maquiladora in the north end of town. At that site, construction has already begun on a large multi-purpose room, a soccer field and a basketball court. 

Ultimately, when completed, the facility will service 600 children per day who will be transported by buses from the split-session schools of Rosarito. Trained counselors will supervise their completion of daily school work before the children are allowed to pursue wholesome and challenging activities of their choice, very similar in nature to the roster of events being offered at the summer program at the Casa Club. $300 pesos (about $25) isn`t a great deal of money and it usually doesn`t have much purchasing power, either. But it will buy a complete and unforgettable professionally supervised experience for a limited number of our area`s kids, regardless of ethnicity. The Summer Camp will offer at least ten very special activities. These include: Arts/Crafts, Basketball, Computers, DARE, English, Futbol, Interaction with Animals, Racquetball, Reading, and Volleyball. All necessary equipment will be provided at no additional cost for the attendees.

On July 9th, a hand-selected cadre of the top Print and Broadcast media luminaries from north-of-the-border visited the site under the auspices of Lucy Garcia Roberts, the President of Hispanic Marketing Corporation of San Diego. Lucy has chosen the Boys and Girls Club of Rosarito as the worthy beneficiary of her 2012 efforts as HMC’s annual non-profit charity fund recipient.

A program featuring local dignitaries…Don Enrique Gamboa, the head of the Club de Ninos y Ninas Seccion Tijuana; Hugo Torres, the recent recipient of LEAD San Diego’s Charles Nathanson Cross-Border Bridge Building Award; Juan Tintos Funke, the Secretary of Tourism for the State of Baja California; Javier Robles, the current Mayor of Rosarito Beach…was held. This was followed by a paella luncheon and a presentation about this year’s 3rd Annual Rosarito Beach International Mariachi & Folklorico Festival, a 100% benefit for the building and operational funds for the Club. Mariachi Aguila de Tijuana and Ballet Folklorico Ixtlazihuatl, two of Baja’s finest practitioners of their respective genres performed.