SYTA Youth Foundation donates $15,000 to help save student trip to Space Camp

SYTA Youth Foundation donates $15,000 to help save student trip to Space Camp

The SYTA Youth Foundation (SYF) announced today that they will provide a $15,000 grant to St. Albert Public Schools to help restore the funds needed for 71 students/chaperones to take a trip of a lifetime to Space Camp in Montreal – a trip which has been put in jeopardy as the result of a travel company’s financial insolvency.

Just two weeks ago, the school board informed parents that their trip, as originally contracted, would not proceed despite being paid-in-full. Soon thereafter, a Facebook page “Save Our Space Camp” was established in an effort to raise the $105,000 needed to ensure the trip they’ve been planning for over a year could go on. The donation from SYF is the largest donation to date to replace the funds needed.

“The SYTA Youth Foundation is so pleased to be able to make this donation on behalf of the North American and International travel professionals who are dedicated to the belief that travel changes young lives for good,” said Carylann Assante, executive director of the Student & Youth Travel Association (SYTA) and SYF. “We also want these students and parents to know that while this situation is very unfortunate, they can trust professional tour companies and organizations like SYTA (www.syta.org) and TICO (www.tico.ca) who work to ensure that member companies are professional and following best practices to support and protect student groups. We work to prevent situations like the one that happened with Save our Space Camp.”

SYF is challenging other businesses to match their grant in order to meet the St. Albert fundraising goal of $105,000 by April 26, 2014. Doing so will not only enrich the lives of these students, but also restore faith in the professional tour companies. Donations can be received at http://www.rockethub.com/projects/41715-save-our-space-camp.