The Troy Kiwanis Club is dedicated to projects that benefit the community. Service to children is a primary focus of the club.

On Thursday, the Troy Kiwanis Club made a donation to the Troy University Summer Spotlight Camp that will fund scholarships for two kids to attend the summer camp in July.

Kiwanian Vernon Crowe presented the donation to Tori Lee-Averett, camp director, and expressed the club’s desire to be a part of the camp that provides kids with opportunities to learn about performance and stagecrafts and tops those experiences with a showcase for family and friends.

The Summer Spotlight Camp runs two weeks. Week one is Spotlight on Dance and is for ages 8-12. The second week is the Creative Drama Camp for ages 4-13.

“The Troy Kiwanis Club realizes the benefits of the Summer Spotlight Camp and we want to show our support through this donation,” Crowe said. “This is the fourth year the Troy Kiwanis Club has made a donation for camp scholarships. We are proud to continue to support the Troy University Summer Spotlight camp and the kids it serves.”

Lee-Averett expressed appreciation to the Troy Kiwanis Club for its continuing support of the Summer Spotlight Camp and for being a part of its growth.

“This year, we are celebrating our tenth year and we are excited about how the camp has grown,” Lee-Averett said. “The first year we had 45 kids in Summer Spotlight Camp. This year, we are full with 160 kids. We were not able to accept more applicants because we just don’t have room for more.”

The Performance Intensive and the Tech and Management Intensive camps for high school and college students, also in July, offer a chance for participants to immerse themselves in all aspects of performance and theater.

“We’ll have 100-plus campers for the intensives,” Lee-Averett said. “So, our total number of campers this summer will be between 260 and 275.

“Many parents have said they wish their kids could have these types of experiences at school – to have opportunities to be fully expressive with their voices, their bodies and their imaginations. Schools are not doing enough of this, parents say.”

Organized and structured play are most often the rule of thumb in today’s world, leaving few opportunities for free play where kids are encouraged to use their imaginations and their creativity, Lee-Averett said.
“At Summer Spotlight Camp, we provide them with these opportunities and, along the way, they develop a sense of community. They take care of each other; they learn from each other and support each. We have such a good time and it shows when they take the stage for the showcase.”