Goshen College receives $1 million from Lilly Endowment Inc. for summer camps program

Goshen College has received a $1 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to be used toward developing and implementing summer camps for community youth to help build sustainable programming over the 3-year grant period and beyond.

“We are appreciative to have received the grant so that we can offer meaningful summer camp experiences for youth in the community for many years to come,” said Dr. Erika Buhring, executive director of the college’s Center for Community Engagement, which is giving leadership and oversight to the camps.

The camps will provide children and youth of different ages expanded learning opportunities in arts, sciences and communications that build social, emotional and academic skills and nurture a college-going mindset. With the grant funding, camps will cost only $50 or less, making them more accessible to all students.

The college is partnering with youth-serving organizations in the community to develop the camps and recruit campers, including  Boys & Girls Clubs of Elkhart County, ETHOS Innovation Science and Technology Center, Tolson Community and Youth Center, Elkhart Community Schools and Goshen Community Schools.

CEO of Boys & Girls Clubs of Elkhart County Kevin Deary said, “We are committed to assisting Goshen College to recruit appropriate children and youth for the campus experiences, focusing especially on children that would most benefit from these enriching experiences and who might not otherwise not imagine being on a college campus or be able to participate in these opportunities.”

Lilly Endowment made the grant through Indiana Youth Programs on Campus, its statewide initiative designed to help Indiana colleges and universities in their efforts to create new or expand and enhance existing high-quality, on-campus programs for Hoosier youth, ages 5 to 18.

About Lilly Endowment Inc.

Lilly Endowment Inc. is an Indianapolis-based, private philanthropic foundation created in 1937 by J.K. Lilly Sr. and sons J.K. Jr. and Eli through gifts of stock in their pharmaceutical business, Eli Lilly and Company. While those gifts remain the financial bedrock of the Endowment, the Endowment is a separate entity from the company, with a distinct governing board, staff and location. In keeping with the founders’ wishes, the Endowment supports the causes of community development, education and religion and maintains a special commitment to its hometown, Indianapolis, and home state, Indiana.