About
Summer Day Camp is a long-running Peace Neighborhood Center program that includes activities such as field trips where campers travel together and take part in trust exercises, including one where everyone is blindfolded and holds hands while moving inside and outside. During camp days, staff prepare and serve breakfast, lunch, and a healthy snack for campers.
• Ages: 5–13 years old
Summer Day Camp was established in 1974 as part of Peace Neighborhood Center’s growing set of youth programs. The camp operates within an organization whose mission is to provide programs for children, families, and individuals affected by social and economic problems, and to help people discover options, enhance skills, and make choices that lead to self-sufficiency and positive community involvement. Peace Neighborhood Center’s broader youth and family programs include Leadership Development Camp (LDC), after-school academic support, enrichment activities, Performance Arts Academy, College & Career Prep Club (CCPC), Ninth Grade Academy, Family Enrichment Program, a Substance Abuse program, the South Maple Breakfast program, the Computer Access Program (CAP), LEAD (Learning, Experiencing, and Achieving Dreams), the Peace House Transitional Housing Center, the Holiday Toys for Peace Families drive, a Community Wide Toy and Food Holiday Distribution, and the Peace HUB Community Resource Center.
Leadership for Peace Neighborhood Center includes Executive Director Bonnie Billups, Jr.; Youth Program Coordinator Anabel Cruz, who works with the South Maple and West Arbor satellite centers; Children’s Services Coordinator Raven Vawters; and former Executive Director Rose Martin, who retired in 2006. Staff credentials include formal training and experience such as Anabel Cruz’s BSW from Eastern Michigan University and preschool teaching background, and Raven Vawters’ BA in Psychology, ABA certification, and one-on-one work with young children with autism before joining the full-time staff in 2018. Peace Neighborhood Center emphasizes clear expectations for youth through its Five Rules of Success—Respect Everyone and Everything; Listen; Follow Directions; Cooperation; Think and Respond Appropriately—and a Youth Services Pledge that focuses on respect, responsibility, honesty, and self-determination.
Former campers and staff describe starting at Summer Day Camp as early as age five and returning every summer, remembering it as an affordable place where they spent their days instead of “just hanging out in the neighborhood.” Testimonials describe specific memories such as the blindfolded trust walk, preparing food for the entire camp, loading and unloading supplies for field trips, and serving meals at Silver Lake while working under tight schedules and as part of a team. Some former campers later held their first paid jobs through Peace’s summer programs, handling tasks like food prep and logistics for camp, and they connect those experiences with skills they continue to use. Longtime staff members note that campers they first met in first grade are now entering ninth grade, and they describe everyone who comes through Peace’s doors as part of the “Peace Family.”
Last updated January 5, 2026.
• Ages: 5–13 years old
Summer Day Camp was established in 1974 as part of Peace Neighborhood Center’s growing set of youth programs. The camp operates within an organization whose mission is to provide programs for children, families, and individuals affected by social and economic problems, and to help people discover options, enhance skills, and make choices that lead to self-sufficiency and positive community involvement. Peace Neighborhood Center’s broader youth and family programs include Leadership Development Camp (LDC), after-school academic support, enrichment activities, Performance Arts Academy, College & Career Prep Club (CCPC), Ninth Grade Academy, Family Enrichment Program, a Substance Abuse program, the South Maple Breakfast program, the Computer Access Program (CAP), LEAD (Learning, Experiencing, and Achieving Dreams), the Peace House Transitional Housing Center, the Holiday Toys for Peace Families drive, a Community Wide Toy and Food Holiday Distribution, and the Peace HUB Community Resource Center.
Leadership for Peace Neighborhood Center includes Executive Director Bonnie Billups, Jr.; Youth Program Coordinator Anabel Cruz, who works with the South Maple and West Arbor satellite centers; Children’s Services Coordinator Raven Vawters; and former Executive Director Rose Martin, who retired in 2006. Staff credentials include formal training and experience such as Anabel Cruz’s BSW from Eastern Michigan University and preschool teaching background, and Raven Vawters’ BA in Psychology, ABA certification, and one-on-one work with young children with autism before joining the full-time staff in 2018. Peace Neighborhood Center emphasizes clear expectations for youth through its Five Rules of Success—Respect Everyone and Everything; Listen; Follow Directions; Cooperation; Think and Respond Appropriately—and a Youth Services Pledge that focuses on respect, responsibility, honesty, and self-determination.
Former campers and staff describe starting at Summer Day Camp as early as age five and returning every summer, remembering it as an affordable place where they spent their days instead of “just hanging out in the neighborhood.” Testimonials describe specific memories such as the blindfolded trust walk, preparing food for the entire camp, loading and unloading supplies for field trips, and serving meals at Silver Lake while working under tight schedules and as part of a team. Some former campers later held their first paid jobs through Peace’s summer programs, handling tasks like food prep and logistics for camp, and they connect those experiences with skills they continue to use. Longtime staff members note that campers they first met in first grade are now entering ninth grade, and they describe everyone who comes through Peace’s doors as part of the “Peace Family.”
Last updated January 5, 2026.
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