Evening for the Children Gala Online Auction

Funds raised through the Evening for the Children Gala provide scholarships for local, low-income, at-risk youth to attend enriching summer camp programs at Carlisle Family YMCA, YWCA Carlisle, and Summer Program for Youth (SPY).

Each camp is unique yet they all foster a safe, structured, and nourishing environment that allows for social and emotional growth, mitigates the negative effects of trauma, and promotes learning readiness. Decades of research confirm that summer learning loss is real. The average summer learning loss in math and reading for students amounts to one month per year. More troubling is that it disproportionately affects low-income students: they lose two to three months of reading skills, while their higher-income peers make slight gains. With your generosity, we are able to help close the achievement gap that often widens during the summer months.

In 2020, the online auction raised $5,877 and provided 35 weeks of camp scholarships to local children, who had been identified by local school counselors as being at-risk for summer learning loss. As a result, campers had a chance to interact with other youth on equal footing, develop strong social skills, meet numerous challenges, and even improve their cognitive skills through structured activities.

We would like to raise $10,000 this year through our silent auction, so bid high and bid often!

United Way of Carlisle & Cumberland County's mission is to unite people and resources to build a stronger, healthier Carlisle and Cumberland County. We help fund 23 partner agencies and 34 programs. All 100% of undesignated contributions fund the programs. For more, visit www.uwcarlisle.org.