Summer Youth Club

About four years ago the church was approached by the food service people at the Rock Island Schools because our neighborhood school was being reorganized - it had gotten the "death penalty" under "no child left behind." So it was getting a new staff, a new name, a new age group of kids and so forth. They asked if we would provide a lunch program for our neighborhood that was usually provided at the neighborhood school - previously Hawthorne/Irving School, currently The Primary Academy.

The Summer Lunch program is funded by the state. They require pretty meticulous record keeping, and that we hire a professional and certified cook, and things like that. At the same time, with lots of volunteers from the church, and a special effort at record keeping and organization by the church secretary, Nora, it is something we can do.

When we provide the lunch and then shoo-ed the kids out the door that first summer it felt sort of empty. Sure, we had provided a nutritious lunch, but the kids did not seem to have much else that they were going to do.

For the last two summers we have, in cooperation with the Community Caring Conference, provided a Summer Club for neighborhood kids that took place in the afternoon, after lunch. The first year the club was funded by the Doris and Victor Day Foundation. This summer it was underwritten with a grants from the Rock Island Junior Board and from LAN 29. (Local Area Network.) Our Outreach Director reports that 65 youth and 6 parents joined in the activities.

This is your basic enrichment program for children. They do arts and crafts, go on field trips and generally practice working together as good citizens in groups. One of the creative aspects of last summer's program was a special group for girls to build up self-esteem and look forward to a positive future. This was managed by a graduate student in counseling named Molly.

Above is a photo taken one day at the park when the Summer Club kids were wearing their special orange T-shirts.