Los Pueblos Day Camps

Free day camp for Guatemalan children in Cottage Grove from 2020- 2025.

These fun and eductional camps provided breakfast, lunch, transportation to and from the site, and a history/nature/culture based experience. Children ages 6 – 10 enjoyed cooking, crafts, stories, music, movement and games based on Guatemalan and Mexican traditional culture. Rooted in history and embracing modern culture as well, this camp brought friendship, fun, learning, and outdoor play time (including swimming in the river in summertime.) Our staff instructors were Janet Hernandez (a Latina) and Willow Chester. The camp was bilingual in English and Spanish, with occasional Mam language support as needed.

Funding was generously provided by the Yarg Family Foundation, the City of Cottage Grove, the Cow Creek Umpqua Indian Tribe and the Roundhouse Foundation.

We partnered with the Early Learning Center in Cottage Grove, which features La Plaza, a resource area for families that serves many Guatemalan immigrants. Support also comes from South Valley Athletics and Community Sharing Food Pantry.

The parents and kids loved these camps and requested enrollment every year as soon as they opened. Janet relayed to us that the camps had a huge impact on these children’s lives as they learned to navigate their place in a new culture and a new country. Many of them have gone through hardships including food and housing insecurity.

In later years, the camp included Spring Break and school-day-out programs, and was held at the Cottage Grove Community Center. We served up to 11 kids per week with these wonderful camps.

In 2025 we were featured an artist in residence at our Spring Break Day Camp, Marina Hajek. She helped guide the kids to learn about monarch butterflies and their great migration. Working with art supplies, they created their own butterflies and learned about this metaphor for their own families’ migration. Exploring the challenges of butterflies moving to a new place, accross the lifespan of several generations, was interesting for the children. At the end of the camp, the butterflies were displayed in cases at the Cottage Grove Library for a few months.

A big thank you to Janet, Willow, and Marina!