‘Play is Power’ Aims to Improve Summer for Kids and Teens in Need
The summertime gap is growing, with impacts that last throughout the year.
Some children and teens spend their summers at camps, on family vacations, and at their grandparents’ lake house. For other kids, summer is lonely, boring, perilous, and a time of
skill stagnation.
“Families are stretched very thin right now, but society is asking more and more of children,” said LaToya Floyd, MD, a child and adolescent psychiatrist who has launched the new Play is Power Fund through Benefis Foundation with Heather
Halko, a pediatric clinical psychologist.
Summer camps can be hundreds of dollars a week per child at a time when many families are having to focus on meeting basic needs.
Yet summer activities do matter. Physical activity, time in nature, opportunities to explore new skills, creative projects, space to make new friends outside their regular social group, positive interactions with adults, and growth are all part of what summer programming offers children and teens.
“When you go to a camp, you have the opportunity to explore friendships outside your ZIP code. You navigate different relationships, acquire new skills, and keep your brain stimulated, which works wonders,” Dr. Floyd said. “Growing up is about figuring out who you are, and new experiences help you do that.”
Benefis pediatric patients are eligible to apply for the Play is Power program, and the grants will first start in the summer of 2026.
Dr. Floyd spent her summers as a child in the library and then at tennis camps – “My favorite thing in the world” – as she got older. One outdoorsy camp left her disinclined to ever tent camp again, but it was a growth experience.
“The world is demanding our children juggle more, perform more, and navigate more than previous generations,” she said. “We really have to give them more skills and more opportunities to develop themselves. And with all those demands, sports and hobbies nourish souls as a counterbalance.”
Help change summer for local children and teens at Benefis.org/Give. Under gift designation mark "other" and note "Play is Power."
