29 Helping Underprivileged Kids in Washington, DC For a child, summer should be a time full of laughter, exploration, sunshine, and the outdoors. For children from low-income families in Washington, DC, that carefree summer experience isn’t always possible. Just Imagine (JI) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization which was started in 2012 with the goal of giving city children the opportunity to get out of their environment for the summer by providing them with scholarships to sleep away camp. JI was able to provide 9 children with this experience in 2012. Six years later, Just Imagine not only provides scholarships to sleep away camp, it prepares children for college by giving them access to SAT preparation, college tours, and workshops on the college application process and life skills. Just Imagine negotiated more than $340,000 in in-kind scholarship donations for the summer of 2017, which, together with $20,000 of funding from HOT and $20,000 from others provided 80 children with the opportunity to attend sleep away camps up and down the East Coast. Just Imagine relies on donations—both in-kind and monetary-- to cover the cost of transportation (car rentals, airfare, and gasoline) to and from camp and college tours, partial camp tuition costs, and camp supplies (sneakers, athletic clothing, sleeping bags, and toiletries). Two years ago, they expanded their year-round programming to require participation in community service projects, and offered workshops on the college admission process, and field trips to expose their students to careers and areas of study they may not have known about or had access. They have taken students on a series of college tours in the DC/Virginia/Maryland area, and traveled to North Carolina and Atlanta. This spring they are traveling to Louisiana. JI’s wish list for school year 2017-2018 and summer 2018: • $6,000 for SAT prep courses • $7,500 for additional college tours (including transportation and housing) • $16,000 for summer 2018 camp fees, clothing and transportation