Bill Text: VA HJR937 | 2013 | Regular Session | Enrolled
Bill Title: Commending Camp Diva's "Date with Dad."
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)
Status: (Passed) 2013-02-22 - Bill text as passed House and Senate (HJ937ER) [HJR937 Detail]
Download: Virginia-2013-HJR937-Enrolled.html
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WHEREAS, Camp Diva, a Richmond-based nonprofit organization that prepares girls 11 to 17 years of age growing up with absentee fathers for their passage into womanhood, "engages, educates, and empowers girls to become successful women"; and WHEREAS, Camp Diva offers year-round programs designed to build character and self-confidence and to enable the girls to enjoy a high quality of life as adults, including a five-week summer retreat; entrepreneurship training; after-school programs; an annual conference for teen girls; sewing and jewelry making; classes on healthy relationships, etiquette, financial management, and proper nutrition; and a gala father-daughter dinner-dance, known as a "Date with Dad"; and WHEREAS, "Date with Dad," founded in 2008 by girls attending Camp Diva, helps girls develop positive and healthy relationships with their fathers, and the attendance at the dance has grown steadily each year from 20 fathers and daughters in 2008 to over 400 in 2012; and WHEREAS, over the years, "Date with Dad" has enjoyed the wholehearted support of local and state elected officials and representatives of the business, media, and entertainment communities; the dance brings together fathers and father figures and daughters of all ages, socioeconomic backgrounds, and cultures in an environment that fosters quality time together to create lifelong memories; and WHEREAS, each year, fathers who have been nominated by their daughters are honored during "Date with Dad" for the Camp Diva Real Dad Award; these fathers are publicly recognized at the dance and lead the traditional cake-cutting ceremony, and the daughters have the opportunity to present and celebrate positive expressions about the relationship with their fathers, allowing fathers to realize how important they are to their daughters; and WHEREAS, a tradition of "Date with Dad" involves "Stand-In Dads," which connects appropriate men from the community with girls who do not have a father or father figure in their lives to attend the dance together; and WHEREAS, in March 2012, Camp Diva hosted "A Dance of Their Own," possibly the first in the country father-daughter dance held in a correctional facility at the Richmond City Jail, which achieved national recognition and produced measureable and positive change in the relationships among the incarcerated fathers and their families; and WHEREAS, in March 2013, due to its enormous five-year success, "Date with Dad" will become "Date with Dad Weekend," and events will include Active Dads, the Dash for Dads 5K Run/Walk, the 2nd Annual Dance of Their Own, and the 6th Annual "Date with Dad Dinner and Dance"; and WHEREAS, "Date with Dad" has become a model for the creation of chapters in other cities and countries such as Norfolk and Jamaica; Camp Diva's founder and executive director, Angela Patton, believes every young girl is a budding diva—"a female with light in her eyes, love in her heart, a spring in her step, and a positive outlook on life"—and she has gained national and international media recognition for her outstanding work; and WHEREAS, Camp Diva is striving to prepare the next generation of women one girl at a time by providing access to mentors, positive role models, opportunities to meet business leaders, visits to college campuses, and participation in community service projects; now, therefore, be it RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the General Assembly hereby commend Camp Diva's "Date with Dad"; and, be it RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to Angela W. Patton, founder and executive director of Camp Diva, in order that she may be apprised of the General Assembly's appreciation of her service to the young women of the Commonwealth. |
