On Thursday night, October 30, we'll be at Tribeca Three Sixty� in Lower Manhattan for CAMBA Casino Night Out, our annual casino-themed gala. Our gala brings together a dynamic group of more than 300 leaders in business, politics, development, community, arts and service who are committed to empowering low-income New Yorkers.

This year's honorees are Martin Dunn, Partner, Dunn Development, and Dr. David Cohen, Executive Vice President, Maimonides Medical Center. Join us to honor their exceptional community leadership in the fields of affordable and supportive housing and patient-centered health care.

We're also thrilled to have this year's Emcee and Special Guest: Craig Melvin (right), MSNBC Anchor and NBC News Correspondent.

camba.org/casinonight

Help us stock the shleves of our food pantry and bring healthy groceries to 4,300 people each month.

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More than 1,000 elementary and middle school-aged kids spent seven weeks this summer at CAMBA camps, exploring, learning, playing, traveling and filling their summer in other enviable ways.

CAMBA's 11 camps run from July 1 to August 15 and are based in public schools and community centers around Brooklyn. From 8 am to 6 pm, Monday through Friday, campers' days are chock-full of activities---from STEM and literacy enrichment to community-building and conflict resolution to some good, old-fashioned summer pastimes, like the "CAMBA Camp Fires," all-camp gatherings for songs and skills-sharing (without the actual fire).

"We try to get as close as we can to a traditional summer camp in a public school building," said Christie Hodgkins, CAMBA VP of Education and Youth Development. "But, we also offer so much more."

A large part of what makes CAMBA's camps so valuable (and memorable) are the field trips that take campers out of the buildings and immediate neighborhoods and expose them to the cultural bounty NYC has to offer. This is an opportunity that the predominantly low-income campers often lack, and it's an opportunity that's essential to future academic success.

Across the 11 summer programs, campers went on more than 300 field trips, from the pre-historic landscapes of the American Museum of Natural History to the water-based learning of Harbor Camp to hands-on outings at the City's burgeoning urban student farms. In one of the summer's unique opportunities, middle-school campers at CAMBA Beacon 166 participated in the Billion Oyster Project, a large-scale partnership to restore 1 billion oysters to New York Harbor over the next 20 years.

In all, it was a summer of great memories for the CAMBA campers. And now, for many of them, the amazing experiences will continue this fall at CAMBA's after-school programs, and at Beacon and Cornerstone Community Centers. This fall, as part of the Mayor's after-school expansion, CAMBA launched a new middle-school after-school program and expanded another program to include sixth- through eighth-grade students.

If all of these field trips, enrichment activities and overall life-changing programs appeal to you, it so happens that our youth programs are hiring. Click below to learn more:

On so many nights throughout the year, the volunteers in our Respite Bed Program bring much-needed meals and beds to the City's homeless people. For one night this month, these same volunteers received the recognition they deserve at the annual Respite Bed Program Volunteer Recognition Event.
 
More than 150 people filled the hall of Plymouth Church in Brooklyn Heights. Volunteers, representatives from partner sites, CAMBA staff and City officials shared a meal and took part in a ceremony honoring Respite Bed's work and the many people who make it possible.
 
The Respite Bed Program is a network of 38 churches and synagogues that donate their time and space to serve homeless clients of The Gathering Place, CAMBA's Drop-In Center. The program provides almost 8,000 meals and beds annually and runs on the kindness of 2,000 volunteers who prepare food and sleep at the sites.

The evening was led by CAMBA's Yehudit Moch, Operations Manager of the Respite Bed Program, with kind words shared by numerous representatives from partner sites.

"We are so pleased that we can open our space to the people in the Respite Bed Program," said Elisabeth Platt, Site Coordinator at Old First Reformed  Church in Park Slope. "When groups come together with a common purpose, it's not about faith or religion, but about serving a common need."
 
Also addressing the crowd that night was a representative from the NYC Department of Homeless Services, Respite Bed staff members and CAMBA President and CEO Joanne Oplustil.
 
Learn about volunteering for the Respite Bed Program.