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“We are delighted to be able to make a difference in the lives of the children of Stamford,” Alex Cohen, president of the foundation said in a news release. “The camp allows them a safe and nurturing environment to learn and grow. The academic achievements they acquire here will serve as a great foundation for their futures.”
“At the foundation it’s not about checkbook guarantors,” Jeanne Melino, director of Philanthropy and Community Relations for the foundation, said Monday after the donation was announced, “Domus is in our backyard…This is where the Cohens live and work.”
“Local donors to charitable causes are still recovering from the recession, but poor kids can’t wait: Every day during the summer they don’t get academic stimulation means they fall further and further behind their peers. This camp would not be happening this summer without the Cohens’ investment in these kids and in their academic futures,” Mike Duggan, executive director of Domus, said in a news release.
In addition to the donation to fund the entire camp for the summer the Cohens were also able to donate two educational boat rides from SoundWaters, which campers took part in on Monday afternoon. The boat rides came to the camp as a separate gift from SAC Capital, which received the rides after sponsoring a SoundWaters event earlier this year, Melino said. Steven Cohen is the founder of SAC Capital.
During the ride on the SoundWaters Schooner kids learned about different animals living in Long Island Sound, about sailing, and the bad effect littering has on the sound, Alicia Mullett, director of education of the organization, said.
“This is something that melds everything we’re trying to do together,” Jonathan Hoch, chief community officer for Domus, said of the boat rides.
The camp is in its second year, and was in jeopardy of not being funded prior to the donation from the Cohen’s foundation, and offers academics and enrichment activities for kids in low-income families. There is no fee to families for the five-week camp.
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