2008 Reality Check Money Camp Wrap-up

Article By: Monica L. Bonsett
Family and Consumer Sciences Educator

Economic times have been tough lately, due to the rising prices of gasoline and diesel fuel which drives up the cost of other commodities. We all have had to stretch our dollars a little further to cover expenses. Of course, some people have trouble living within their budgets no matter what the economic situation. They rely on credit cards to “extend” their incomes. Parents who have difficulty managing money don’t typically do a good job teaching their children how to stay within a budget. Unfortunately, many schools fail to teach personal finance anymore, and as a result their students graduate without a clue about financial literacy. For these reasons, the Citrus County Extension office has partnered with Consumer Credit Counseling of Mid-Florida, Inc. for three summers now to present Reality Check Money Camp.

The camp, which was most recently held June 16-20, 2008, was designed to teach teens important financial management concepts such as budgeting, banking, and credit. Since the subject matter can be dry at times, we strive to make the camp as interactive as possible. A day camp such as this takes many months of planning and coordination to present. I have been fortunate to partner with Judy Collins, who is the Director of Education at Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Mid-Florida, Inc. Judy brings a wealth of financial knowledge, hard work, and creativity to the table. This camp is as hands-on as possible and includes field trips to the Nick Nicholas Ford dealership in Inverness and the Federal Reserve Bank in Jacksonville. There are many people to thank who made this camp possible. To begin, I would like to thank our sponsors, Mercantile Bank, for their $100 sponsorship; and Florida Credit Union for paying for the participants’ lunches at the Avenues Mall on the way back from the Federal Reserve Bank.

Thank you to the anonymous donor who gave five scholarships ($30 each) to help five teens who expressed need to participate in the camp. Each applicant wrote an essay about what they hoped to gain from attending the program.
Many people donated their time and expertise to make this camp successful. Alpha Arnold, Branch Manager from Mercantile Bank in Crystal River, and Debbie Muir, Vice President and Business Banking Officer, were guest speakers who taught the kids about banking—check writing, reconciling a check book and they even donated checkbooks so the kids could practice these skills.

Thank you to Shane Bryant, General Manager of Nick Nicholas Ford, for talking to us about car buying and allowing us to come to the dealership as a field trip so the kids could do their car buying activity. Thank you to Joe Johnson, Director of Business Services of the Gainesville Area Chamber of Commerce, for taking time out of his busy schedule to be a guest speaker. At the Federal Reserve Bank, Barb Klingler, who is in charge of Public Relations and Education, gave us an excellent tour of the Fed. She also arranged for us to see the bomb dog and his handler in action. We appreciated the opportunity to take this tour.

A big thank you goes to the effort of my volunteers, Dot Lehman and Martha Morrow. Without volunteers who give of their time to be chaperones on the field trips and to help out in numerous ways during the camp, this endeavor would not be possible. Also I would like to thank Tiffany Kent, a University of Florida student, who interned this summer at the Extension office. She was a tremendous help to me during this camp. I want to thank Cindy DeVries—our Canning Kitchen Manager, for baking the pizzas for our pizza party. It really helped me a bunch!

One of the concepts that was emphasized throughout the camp is the importance of Paying Yourself First—a concept where savings is treated like a bill in your budget, just like your mortgage or car payment. Hopefully, the teens will remember what we taught them. But if they remember nothing else but this concept, it will help them to become savers instead of debtors.

All programs and related activities sponsored for, or assisted by, the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences are open to all persons with non-discrimination with respect to race, creed, color, religion, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, political opinions, or affiliations.

For persons with disabilities requiring special accommodations, please contact our office at least five working days prior to the program so that proper consideration may be given to the request. For hearing impaired, please contact the Florida Relay Center at 1-800-955-8770 (voice) or 1-800 –955-8771 (TDD).

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