NEWPORT – BankNewport has awarded a $2,000 grant to the South County Museum in Narragansett to support its partnership with Camp Fuller, the summer camp of the Greater Providence YMCA, the bank recently announced.
The mission of the South County Museum is to interpret the agricultural, marine, textile manufacturing and resort histories of southern Rhode Island, which it does through the care and display of more than 20,000 items from throughout the state’s history. To further its mission, this past summer the museum worked with Camp Fuller to teach children about the hand skills and tools used during the 19th century.
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The bank’s grant allowed the museum to host four camp field trips from June through August during which campers worked with carpenter Steve Black in the museum’s woodworking shop to build wooden dragon boats and paddles, which were taken back to the camp and used for races, according to a news release.
While visiting the museum, campers also toured the Metz Exhibition Hall and saw three other maker spaces, along with a 19th-century print shop, a blacksmith’s forge and the fiber shed, where they learned about wool spinning, natural dyeing and hand-sewing.
Last month, BankNewport CEO and President Jack Murphy and Greater Providence YMCA CEO Steven O’Donnell visited the museum’s program to observe the campers working in teams while using science, technology, engineering and math skills to build two dragon boats in the woodworking barn and then race them on the water.
“We were thrilled to have the opportunity to partner with the South County Museum and the Greater Providence YMCA’s Camp Fuller this summer,” Murphy said in a statement. “Science, technology, engineering, and math are incredibly important skills to learn at a young age, and it was impressive to watch the campers apply them to such a fun and unique project.”
