Backpacks filled with school and emergency supplies are currently being handed out at summer camps to prepare children for upcoming storms.

This summer, some new and promising Save the Children programs are being introduced to the Gulf Coast to help children recover from the devastation caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

In the aftermath of the storms, Save the Children quickly put its international expertise in the field of child protection and psychosocial assistance to use in support of thousands of displaced and evacuated children in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi.

The programs are listed below are being done in an effort to continue to serve the needs of children who were affected by the storms.

Summer Camps
In collaboration with the Boys & Girls Clubs, YMCAs and the Girl Scouts, Save the Children is hosting 37 summer camps to benefit approximately 13,300 students. Students, who may have missed out on a substantial portion of the school year due to the hurricanes, will have an opportunity to receive academic support to help them get ready for the new school year and engage in fun, safe camp activities. They will also attend hurricane preparedness workshops and receive backpacks filled with school and emergency supplies after attending the workshops to better help them prepare should another storm hit the Gulf Coast this hurricane season.

Literacy, Physical Activity and Nutrition Programs
Another program new to the Gulf Coast this summer is Save the Children’s Model Literacy and Physical Activity/Nutrition Programs. Already being implemented in other parts of the United States, the literacy program for hurricane-affected students will begin in August 2006 to coincide with the new school year.

Save the Children will work with schools in up to six rural communities to provide quality in-school and out-of-school reading tutors, physical education activities and nutrition programs for low-income girls and boys in kindergarten through the eighth grade.

The hallmark of the reading program is the “literacy block,” a structured rotation that includes three core activities: guided independent reading practice, fluency building activities and a read-aloud session. Children are guided by literacy coordinators and highly-trained, caring volunteers.

Child Advocacy
Save the Children recognizes that there is no national agency in the United States that has a clear mandate to lead and coordinate actions that safeguard children in the aftermath of a disaster.

Through a “Children of the Storms” campaign now being initiated, Save the Children has a goal of improving the national policy framework, accepted standards and guidelines, as well as inter-agency coordination so that children are protected when disasters occur.

The agency is documenting child protection concerns in new transitional housing communities along the Gulf Coast , identifying solutions, and supporting and advocating for their implementation. Based on post-Katrina and Rita lessons learned, Save the Children will advocate nationally for policy changes and seek to build greater cooperation among peer relief organizations and local, state and federal players, which will translate into better protection for American children in the immediate aftermath of a crisis.

Continuing Programs
In addition to the programs mentioned above that are new to the Gulf Coast, Save the Children will continue it’s work to restore and improve childcare facilities and after-school programs and implement literacy and nutrition programs in the in the region.