With school out and the mercury rising, the Collier County Sheriff’s Office has just the thing to keep kids and teens active, cool and safe this summer.
Summerfest is back for the second year in a row.
Fishing, swimming, boat-building, movies, sports, music, and games are just some of the activities that combine to make Summerfest CCSO’s most ambitious summer youth program ever. The program offers a wide range of fun and free activities for all grade levels in a safe environment.
Summerfest is made possible thanks to partnerships with Collier County Parks and Recreation, the Collier County School District and nearly 200 area donor businesses and individuals.
Sheriff Kevin J. Rambosk said he believes this year will be even more successful than last year when deputies recorded more than 50,000 youth contacts during the course of the inaugural Summerfest programs.
“Thanks to the generosity of our community partners we are looking forward to building on last year’s momentum,” Sheriff Rambosk said. “This is going to be another year of safe and fun summer activities to our community’s young people.”
Once again, CCSO Youth Relations deputies will be assigned to summer youth programs instead of being assigned to patrol duties. This reallocation allows CCSO to expand its summer youth offerings without additional costs to the community.
CCSO has at least two activities, and in many cases as many as four activities, scheduled every weekday through Aug. 12. New this year is the Build-A-Chair program. And the middle school day camp program has been expanded to two locations: Golden Gate and Immokalee.
Here are some of the ways the Collier County Sheriff’s Office is reaching out to make sure our community’s children and teens have as safe and fun summer.
Hot Summer Nights
This popular program takes place Friday evenings from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at parks throughout Collier County. Open to students in middle and high school. Hot Summer Nights includes water slides, music, dancing games, sports, roller skating, and water park events. Kids can snack on snow cones, popcorn and hot dogs served up by deputies.
D.E.P.U.T.Y Club
D.E.P.U.T.Y. Club is a summer program for students in first grade through fifth grade. It takes place Wednesdays for seven weeks from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. June 22 through Aug. 3 at St. Katherine Greek Orthodox Church, 7100 Airport-Pulling Road, North Naples. Transportation will be provided for children in the Immokalee and Everglades areas.
Open Gym – Basketball
Gymnasiums at Lely, Golden Gate and Immokalee high schools will be open for basketball and supervised by CCSO Youth Relations deputies several afternoons a week. The gyms will be set up to allow students, ages 11 to 18, to have supervised recreation and interaction with law enforcement.
Teen Driver Challenge
This is a 12-hour program that partners newly licensed drivers with deputies to learn skills and laws. This is both a classroom and hands-on program. Approximately 12-15 participants are involved in each monthly program.
Build-A-Boat
This program is an opportunity for high-schoolers ages 14 to 18 to accomplish the task of building a boat while staying active and earning their boaters safety certificate. The Build-A-Boat program will talk place at Everglades City School, the CCSO Youth Relations Office on North Horseshoe Drive in East Naples and at I-Tech in Immokalee.
Build-A-Chair
Students ages 11 to 14 will learn to work with tools and work together to build a chair at Lely High School, Golden Gate Middle School, Immokalee Middle School, and Everglades Community Center.
Middle School Community Outreach Camp
CCSO is partnering with Golden Gate and Immokalee middle schools to offer sixth- and seventh-grade students a free day camp. Activities will include basketball, lacrosse, softball, flag football, soccer, and track and field.
Fishing
Go fishing with CCSO at the Naples Pier. This program is a partnership between CCSO, City of Naples and Boys and Girls Club. Every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. June 20 through Aug. 11. Kids ages 10-16 will fish and learn about water safety.
A complete schedule of activities can be found on the CCSO website, www.colliersheriff.org. Click on the pull-down tab labeled “We Can Help,” then click on “Youth Relations” then “CCSO Summerfest.” Or for more information call CCSO’s Youth Relations Bureau at 530-9741 or e-mail summerfest@colliersheriff.org.
