Since 2013, Dr. Carl Cramer, associate dean and professor in Barry University’s College of Nursing and Health Sciences, has been making a difference in the lives of hundreds of children in Milot, Haiti.
Cramer has been doing this though APPENSO (Association for the Preparation of Sport Culture in the North), a project designed to provide a planned opportunity for children ages 6 to 16 to be safe, develop skills in sport culture, and identify those children who are gifted and can compete nationally and internationally. The program, also known as APPESNO Camp Multisports, takes place for four weeks each summer in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.
“Over three hundred children in northern Haiti benefit from this program,” said Cramer, who has taught, researched and served in the field of athletic training for 40 years, and is considered an expert in athletic training academic program structure and content. “Before APPESNO, there was nothing. This is all to save a generation of children one at a time through sports”
Cramer, along with his friend, Don Traczyk, work together to identify sustainable resources for the project’s long-term operation, as well as provide all underwriting for camp operations. Traczyk has been working with APPENSO since 2010.
The two freely provide what they can gather, Cramer says, which covers the cost of equipment, food, uniforms, awards and stipends for coaches.