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Summer day camp program begins to gain momentum

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A campaign to provide Washington children with a safe place to spend summer days is gaining momentum.

Aaron Wrubleski, director of employment services for Arc Human Services, is attempting to create a day camp program at city parks, providing a low- or no-cost option for local families five days a week.

“The playgrounds are there, and kids don’t go there anymore,” he said. “How do we get back to that?”

The idea formed during a brainstorming session with Councilman Joe Manning. Wrubleski and Manning, who both grew up in Washington, recalled summer days spent outdoors.

“We were thinking, ‘Do the kids have a safe, affordable place to go when they’re not in school?'” said Wrubleski.

Wrubleski is in contact with Washington High School to utilize student volunteers as camp counselors, who will lead activities like arts and crafts and intramural sports. He wants city police officers to be a consistent presence at the camps.

“Some of these kids see police officers arrest their friends and family,” he said. “We want them to not be afraid, and to show the police in a positive light.”

Wrubleski is applying to a federal program to provide free lunches to the participants.

“I think what you’re proposing fills a need in the community,” said Mayor Scott Putnam.

Wrubleski also is collaborating with local artist Ronnie Hicks to beautify entrances to the city.

“There’s been a big effort to revitalize Main Street. Now we should try to branch out,” Wrubleski said.

Their first target is the wall at the Jefferson Avenue off-ramp of Route 70, where Hicks proposed to city council to create a 60-foot-wide mural with “Welcome to Washington, Pennsylvania,” to be painted in Prexie blue.

Hicks is a tattoo artist who has painted murals in Butler, his hometown.

Putnam said he would like to see beautification efforts at every entrance point of the city.

Wrubleski, who won the 2017 Inclusion Award from the Academy of Adolescent Health May 20 for his work in the community, said pride is infectious.

“No one wants to sit idly by and watch things decline,” he said. “I want to leave things a little better than I found them.”

The only costs to the city will be for supplies, he said, as all labor will be donated.

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