June Supper and Open House

The College Settlement Camp welcomes Community

To 80th annual June Supper

 The College Settlement and Kuhn Day Camps invites everyone to join them for their annual Open House & June Supper on Thursday June 7th from 5:30 to 7:00.

The June Supper, open to the public, dinner is $7, $4 for children under 10 and includes a silent auction, bike raffle, tour of the camp and hayrides. Tickets may be purchased in advance or on the day of the dinner at the camp, 597 Witmer Road, between Norristown and Dresher roads. “This is an open house that gives the community a chance to find out what we look like and what we’re about,” said Frank R. Gerome, executive director.

            The independent, nonprofit College Settlement Camp has been providing resident summer camp to disadvantaged children from the Greater Philadelphia area since 1922. The Kuhn Day Camp began serving disadvantaged children in 1950.

              This year, more than 500 will participate in the camp’s resident programs and more than 200 in day camp programs. Proceeds from the dinner and auction will be used to buy T-shirts and equipment for the campers.

            The College Settlement began in 1889 as a settlement house in South Philadelphia to provide social and educational programs to the city’s immigrant population. After World War I, there was an influenza epidemic, and College Settlement decided to buy property in Horsham, then considered “upstate Pennsylvania,” to provide a place for city residents to escape to the country. The city property eventually was donated to the Settlement Music School and the Horsham parcel evolved into a residential camp and also the Kuhn Day Camp.

            The 235-acre facility provides programs for 7-to-14-year-old economically disadvantaged children from the metropolitan Philadelphia area. The College Settlement Camp provides four two-week residential sessions for campers, who enjoy traditional activities such as arts and crafts, sports, swimming, day trips, campfires and special theme days. The Kuhn Day Camp program is similar to that of its resident sister camp, but offers two four-week sessions that run Monday to Friday each week.

The camps have two swimming pools, a high ropes course, low ropes course, challenge course, a small lake and several small streams, fields and woodlands. There are several pavilions and about 20 buildings including two nature centers, two dining halls, and cabins which serve as living quarters. The camp also owns and operates a 75-acre outpost in the central Pennsylvania mountains, which sits amidst 6,000 acres of state game lands. College Settlement, which has been involved in interracial, intercultural camping since it was founded, is supported by contributions, donations, grants, off-season user group income and investment income.

            The June Supper dinner menu includes chicken, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, corn, peas, rolls, salad and a dessert of ice cream, strawberries and cookies. The Silent Auction will feature tickets, plants, gift baskets, gift items and gift certificates, Gerome said.

Tours and hayrides begin at 5:30 p.m.; dinner at 5:45 p.m. For additional information, call the camp at 215-542-7974 or visit www.collegesettlement.org.