Supporting Local Youth

RALEIGH, NC, January 27, 2023 /24-7PressRelease/ — The CAHEC Foundation, a nonprofit affiliate of CAHEC, offers various wellness and educational opportunities to ensure residents receive the critical resources they need to succeed. Most recently, the Foundation has found great success connecting youth residents to summer camp experiences they may not otherwise have been able to access.

With summer camps costing an average of $185 per week, the CAHEC Foundation recognized it was an unaffordable option for most low-income families. Through their Youth Leadership Initiative, the CAHEC Foundation can offer these camp experiences to families for $10 per week. While at camp, students participate in sports, go on educational field trips, and learn how to swim, depending on the location. Students also receive a healthy breakfast and lunch each day.

Weeks of attendance vary for each CAHEC resident; some attend for eight weeks of summer, and others for one to two weeks. This camp experience provides youth with physical and educational activities during their summer break. Kristen Aquino, Vice President of Financial Development for the YMCA of Western North Carolina, shared that one of her favorite things about camp is seeing the campers try new things. “One of my favorite weeks was when everyone dressed up as dinosaur explorers, and we had a dinosaur foam-roam party where life-sized animatronic dinosaurs invaded the camp.”

The CAHEC Foundation is grateful to its sponsoring partners, including First Bank, Fitch Irick Corporation, Mountain Housing Opportunities, North State Bank, Pacific Western Bank, Taft-Mills Group, and Thomas and Amanda Boothby. “It’s because of their generosity that we are able to increase the number of weeks our youth can attend camp,” explained Stefanie Lee, Community Relations Specialist for CAHEC. “We’re so appreciative to have partners that support our initiatives and genuinely want to see great things happen for our residents.”

2022 Overview: By the Numbers
Throughout 2022, the CAHEC Foundation distributed $166,000 to support its mission of offering life-changing opportunities to the residents in CAHEC’s footprint. Below is an overview of the initiatives supported:
• Post-Secondary Scholarships – $60,000 / 22 scholarships
• Nutrition Assistance – $53,000 / 98,000 meals
• Disaster Relief – $12,000 / 2 impacted properties

About the CAHEC Foundation

The CAHEC Foundation is a nonprofit affiliate of CAHEC that works to improve the quality of life for youth and young adults through wellness and education initiatives, which began with CAHEC’s Community Investments, where over $16 million has gone towards assisting residents and their communities. Through these initiatives, along with food assistance and disaster relief programs, the CAHEC Foundation has created opportunities beyond affordable housing to help low-income residents obtain the critical resources they need to succeed. To learn more about community investment initiatives, grants, and scholarships visit the CAHEC Foundations website.

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