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Alpha LIie Enrichment Center Summer Camp

Alpha LIie Enrichment Center Summer Camp

Bill Booth, founder and CEO of Alpha Life Enrichment Center

Bill Booth, Paige Moore, First Bank, Marian Booth

Local artist Yvonne Curtis with young campers and their artwork.

Alpha Life Enrichment Center Summer Camp

Alpha LIie Enrichment Center Summer Camp

Alpha Life Enrichment Center Summer Camp

By Clark Curtis, For the Washington Daily News

For over 30 years the Alpha Life Enrichment Center (ALEC), a local nonprofit, has had one simple goal, to make life in Eastern North Carolina better for all of its residents. “We started out as an alternative school before Beaufort County had its own,” said Bill Booth, founder and CEO. “Through initiatives, collaborations, and other programs we have strived to reach as many community members as possible. Every person should have the opportunity to live their best life, and we are here to help with that in so many different ways. One of which is with our annual summer camp for inner city youth.”

Virtually every year since its inception, ALEC has hosted a month-long summer camp at its headquarters on Griffins Beach Road. “It’s also about building self-esteem,” said ALEC program coordinator and Booths’ wife Marian. “We teach them to how to be good citizens, and how to grow up to be well-rounded and well-connected, not only with their families but in their communities as well. It all goes hand-in-hand together. Family relations and community relations.”

Added booth, “Many of these children come from single-parent homes. If not for this month-long summer camp, they would be spending a good part of their summers sitting at home. And unfortunately, that is what a lot of them do that don’t have any means of transportation.”

One recreational activity that the children are introduced to is Quazieball, a game invented by Booth and can be played indoors or out. “It incorporates elements of basketball, team handball, and chess, and provides constant action for the participants,” said Booth. “Unfortunately not everyone is blessed with the skills or physical abilities to play organized basketball. The intention of Quazieball is to focus on and encourage participation by all basketball lovers, even those with little or no skills. It makes it possible for those who wouldn’t normally be chosen to participate in team sports such basketball, soccer, football, or baseball, and to enjoy the same camaraderie and sense of competition.”

In keeping with the times, the students are also introduced to STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) activities. “We want them to see how science works in so many different ways, and things that they can do and learn, which will help make a difference in the world,” said Marian. “The children have also been introduced to gardening and how to work with the soil and see how plants actually grow.

They have also had a hands-on experience in the world of art. “Our artist, Ms. Yvonne, has introduced them to new and different art activities,” said Marian. “The children have been allowed to express their thoughts and visions with paint and clay and then put them up on display. Together they turned two old fallen doors into masterpieces. The kids really love what she has been doing.”

As Booth added it is also a time to introduce the children to things that they have never done before. “Just this morning,” Booth said, “I picked up four kids for the camp and I asked them if they had ever rowed a boat, and they said no. I asked if they had ever been to a museum and they said no. A lot of these kids have never even been out of Beaufort County, so introducing them to activities such as this is very important. So, the last week of the camp we will be taking the kids on a ferry ride across the river to Aurora and back.”

The Booths’ said none of this would be possible without the help of their partners and volunteers such as Ms. Stephanie, who works with special needs kids in the Pitt County schools, Ms. Yvonne, a local artist, and Ms. Tina, a communications director. Beaufort County Schools have provided nutritional breakfast and lunch boxes for the kids. The Internal Legacy Church, as well as First Bank, have provided items for the backpacks the children are given. “We appreciate you guys and everything you are doing for the community and allowing us to be involved with that,” said volunteer Paige Moore with First Bank. “It is our passion to be involved in the community, especially with these precious little souls. More people need to be more engaged with the children. I feel like we live in a world where we are separated from personal connections and the camp allows the kids to feel that personal connection. I’m grateful that I can be a part of it.”

The rewards of it all have come in many different forms for the Booths’. “Something recently rocked my world,” said Booth. “I was in a convenience store and a gentleman walked up to me and asked how I was doing. I didn’t not recognize him, but he told me he had been in one of our camps in the early 90’s, and that it had made a big difference in his life. That really made me feel good. God has been good and blessed us in many ways. I couldn’t be prouder of what we are doing.”

Marian, shared a quote from John F. Kennedys’ inauguration address that always touches her heart.

All this will not be finished in the first one hundred days. Nor will it be finished in the first one thousand days, nor in the life of this Administration, not even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But, let us begin.

 John F. Kennedy

January 20, 1961

 “One hundred years from now it won’t matter what kind of car I drove, what kind of house I lived in, how much money I had in the bank, or what my clothes looked like,” said Marian. “But the world may be a little better because we were important in the life of a child.”

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