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Winner of the Avon Hello Tomorrow Fund - October 2, 2007
Miranda Oropeza Hines Honored with $5,000 Avon Hello Tomorrow Fund Award
October 2, 2007

Austin, Texas Resident Wins Cash Award To Support Need-Based Scholarships To CampSHE Summer Empowerment Program For Girls


(New York, NY, October 2, 2007) Austin, Texas resident Miranda Oropeza Hines, 23, is one step closer to fulfilling her dream of creating a better tomorrow for her community. Miranda was named this week’s winner of the Avon Hello Tomorrow Fund, a weekly $5,000 cash award program from Avon Products, Inc. to support individuals in their work to empower women. Miranda will apply her award towards need-based subsidies for deserving middle school girls to attend CampSHE (Sisters, Healthy & Empowered), the two-week summer empowerment program she co-founded that aims to guide girls in their formative years to gain valuable self-esteem as they build lasting friendships and healthy life choices.

CampSHE was created by Miranda and two elementary school teachers in April of this year. The concept was borne as an expansion of clubGEN, the after school program for girls that Miranda also co-founded. Seeing the tremendous gains in self-confidence and esteem achieved by the girls in the program, Miranda realized that a summer camp could help girls to achieve even greater growth after the school year ended. “One of the most trying times of growing up is during the formative years of middle school,” Miranda explained. “Young girls are woefully unarmed to stand strong as their bodies change and they blossom into young women.” After much careful study and research on the issues affecting girls, curriculum creation, and social entrepreneurship, the empowerment camp concept was fully developed and in summer 2007 CampSHE welcomed its first campers.

CampSHE helps its young campers, girls aged 9-12, believe in themselves and guides them to make healthy life choices while they enjoy educational and fun activities. The camp offers an original curriculum of teambuilding, sisterhood, positive self-image, and focus on individual empowerment. More than 90 young women from Central Texas participated in CampSHE’s inaugural session. They enjoyed a range of games and activities that addressed issues specific to developing young women, including self-esteem, body image, media literacy, healthy relationships, self-empowerment, and healthy lifestyles. The girls were also inspired during the camp’s interactive career day, and benefited from presentations by female role models in areas such as film-making, yoga, self-defense, and even entrepreneurship. In addition, traditional summer camp arts, crafts and fun activities are offered as well.

CampSHE’s programming proved very valuable to its attendees, but the $400 per session enrollment fee, which covers camp programming and costs, can be a barrier for families of some of the most deserving girls. Believing that empowerment and healthy activities should be enjoyed by all, regardless of financial situation, Miranda plans to provide financial assistance to needy girls to attend the camp. In its inaugural session she was able to help offset attendance costs for some girls, yet found there were many more in need. The CampSHE program relies heavily on the generosity of spirit and funding of the community, and the Avon Hello Tomorrow Fund award will help “…make a difference in the lives of promising young women in the community,” said Miranda in appreciation. Thanks to her Avon Hello Tomorrow Fund award, Miranda will be able to subsidize the cost of attending CampSHE for up to twelve girls.

Miranda’s winning application to the Avon Hello Tomorrow Fund fell under the category of “Community Service,” one of three areas the Fund supports. Her proposal met the criteria to clearly present unique and achievable objectives to empower women or girls and ultimately improve society. It was selected from a pool of strong contenders by an expert panel of judges, including Suze Orman, America’s most recognized expert on personal finance. “I smiled as I was reading this proposal,” noted Orman of Miranda’s application. “It reminded me of how much I wanted to go to camp when I was young…but my parents did not have the money to send me. Independence starts at a young age, when you get to experience yourself and others outside of a school environment, so that other discoveries and feelings can come about.”

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