Child Outreach Partnership Initiative, Inc.

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C.O.P.I.I grew out of a mentoring club started in 1996 by Kim Tompkins when she was a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer in Bistrita, Romania.  Through the mentoring club, area high school students were partnered with children from the local orphanage.  In addition to weekly visits and holiday programs, the club organized two summer camps where the mentoring students spent a full week of quality time with the children playing games; making art and going for walks in the scenic Romanian countryside.

Each summer C.O.P.I.I conducts a camp for Beclean's Special School for abandoned children with disabilities.  We invite Romanian high school students to play a vital mentoring role and focus on the benefits of art therapy. We also invite trained expressive therapists from the U.S. and Romania to conduct workshops with the children along side their teachers from the Special School and to interact with other artists and advocators for the children.