Salem Camp D.A.R.E. chopped out of budget

SALEM – A much-loved, free summer camp program for Salem middle schoolers has fallen to the budget axe.

Salem Camp D.A.R.E. won’t happen this summer or any summer in the foreseeable future.

This team from Week 8 of Salem D.A.R.E. Camp may be the last to win the Camp Spirit Paddle, after the city decided to cut the camp to save money. Salem Police photo

Dropping the camp program that made an impact on 3,761 middle school students over the years will save the City of Salem more than $100,000 each year, said Salem City Manager Kevin Boggess when he made the announcement today, Feb. 9.

“For 19 years this has been a summer staple for many of the school kids in Salem, but I think this shows just how serious things are right now,” Boggess said, expressing regret that the camp budget has to be cut.

Salem was one of the original 13 cities and counties included in Virginia’s Drug Abuse Resistance Education efforts in 1986. Camp D.A.R.E. was founded five years later, to reinforce positive role models and activities for preteens.

Camp D.A.R.E. for the last five years has been held in Botetourt County at Camp Bethel, run by the Church of the Brethren, for eight weeks each summer. Girls attended one week, alternating with boys’ camp the next.

Salem Police officers ran the camp and presented programs to the preteens, along with Salem Fire and Emergency Medical Services, parks and recreation and others. The kids caught trout to take home, went on canoe trips, ropes courses and made a copper tooled D.A.R.E. emblem.

In October, the Camp Spirit Paddle was presented to the best team from the summer, at an all-expenses-paid banquet for campers and their families, held at the Salem Civic Center. The latest paddle is proudly displayed in the trophy case at ALMS. Team 8’s paddle from 2009 may be the last.

For many of the kids, Salem Camp D.A.R.E. was their only summer camp experience.

Recently retired Salem Police Chief Jimmy Bryant and his predecessor, Harry Haskins, were huge supporters of Camp D.A.R.E., as is the current police chief, Jeff Dudley.

“Having been one of the Camp’s directors, I’m extremely disappointed that we have to take this action,” Dudley said, “but the camp consumes a lot of man hours during the summer months and during these tight times with hiring freezes in effect citywide, it just makes more sense to use these resources in other ways.”

Last year, 208 seventh graders attended Camp D.A.R.E. The city paid for all expenses for the campers, including overnight lodging, meals, transportation, counselors and equipment, as well as a T-shirt for each camper.

While the summer camp is being suspended indefinitely, the D.A.R.E. program will continue in each of Salem’s four elementary schools, the middle school and Salem High School.”

Dudley reassured parents and the public, “The presence of our officers in the schools will continue just as it has in the past, because we know from experience that they have a very positive influence on our city’s school children.”

Tags: Andrew Lewis Middle School, budget, Camp Bethel, Chief Jeff Dudley, City of Salem, D.A.R.E., D.A.R.E. officers, Drug Awareness Resistance Education, Harry Haskins, Jimmy Bryant, middle school, role models, Salem

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 10th, 2010 at 12:19 pm and is filed under FEATURES, Salem Times Register. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.