September 2015
Kids program provides safe, fun enviorment
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eeding as many as 135 kids a healthy breakfast, lunch, snack and supper every day is just part of the job at AOK and Nathan’s Place in Lamar this summer. And the CACFP and SFSP programs through Ozarks Food Harvest make it possible. For all those kids, though, the best part of the Summer Camp program is all the fun that happens between those meals. The program, open to kids in kindergarten through high school, runs all summer, from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, giving parents a safe, healthy and fun place to take their children during the work week. And it gives those kids an array of activities and some great meals – from biscuits and gravy for breakfast to homemade tacos for supper. Some of the food is even from their own garden. Jerod Morey, director of the youth center, said a Walmart grant made it possible to get all the commercial appliances – stoves, freezers and coolers – and cookware needed to prepare meals at both sites. “It made things a lot more efficient,” he said. AOK, About Our Kids Youth Development Services Inc., was established in 1999 out of a need for child care in the small town in Barton County best known as the birthplace of President Harry Truman. Many parents in Lamar travel to larger communities, such as Pittsburg, Kansas or Joplin, to work, and they need a safe place for their kids to stay. “We’re trying to be a family away from the
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family,” explained Jerod. “We want to make their lives easier.” With a full program schedule and a professional, educated staff, the Summer Camp has always been well attended. This year, the theme of the 13-week program was the Olympics. Each participant was assigned to a country, learning about its food, SOME OF THE FOOD SERVED AT AOK AND NATHAN’S PLACE IN LAMAR IS GROWN IN A GARDEN TENDED TO BY THE YOUTH IN THE PROGRAM. culture, language and geography while a trip to Ozarks Food Harvest to see where all having a fun time. that food came from. They bowled, played “They didn’t even realize they were learning,” in a water park, jumped on trampolines, Jerod said with a grin. watched movies, attended a Springfield Using a kinesthetic learning model, each Cardinals game and visited the Arrowhead student took a hands-on approach to the Stadium sports lab. activities. They learned measurements by All of that is meant to provide a valuable reading recipes and cooking a dish from their experience for the kids, where they have lots country. They gardened, played soccer and of fun, meet new friends, learn important other sports, did crossword puzzles and word skills and lessons and eat good food. finds that incorporated the language of their “It’s our way of saying, ‘We value you’,” said country, held an art show, learned yoga and Jerod. “We cook for you and we do projects went swimming, of course. with you.” Field trips were a little more local, including
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