The group of Camp Nauvoo third, fourth, fifth and sixth grade campers all wore bright yellow T-shirts, embodying the saying, “Many hands make the job easier.”
On Monday morning, campers filled tote bags with easy-to-prepare foods for Empowering Families to donate to local food pantries.
Elaine Overton, co-director of Camp Nauvoo, said the children have participated in various service activities in the past, but this one is on a much larger scale.
“Last year I did a cake mix. I had a box with all the ingredients: cake mix, a mold to put the cake in, icing,” she said.
Co-director Sarah Beth Meyerot also expressed her enthusiasm and excitement about this project for children.
Overton said Beth Meyer brought the idea to Camp Nauvoo.
“(Meyer) is a part of the Empowering Family and Carolyn Baker is on our staff,” she said, “and they thought this was something we could do to help the community, show them (the kids) why it’s important to do this.”
Meyer said it’s important for kids to understand that there are other kids who don’t have the luxury of coming to camp and “experiencing all the fun things that you can do in a group setting.”
“This is another way for kids to give back and understand how important it is to think of others,” she said, “and I think it’s so important for kids to understand. I’m so happy to be a part of this.”
LCHD Community Outreach and Development Project Coordinator Breanna Kramer Leesberg said Empowering Families will collect groceries during the summer food drive and donate them to Community Action.
“We’ve had a lot of donations from Climax Community Health Center,” she says, “and the Horner YMCA donated a lot of leftovers from their youth programs during the school year. They don’t meet in the summer, so they’ve really donated everything, which is wonderful.”
Kramer Leesberg explained to the campers that many people are struggling because they don’t have enough food.
“With the summer holidays coming up, many children are no longer able to eat school meals,” she said. “About 50 percent of children receive free school meals at school, so they rely on cafeteria food for breakfast and lunch every day during the school year.”
Kramer-Leesberg said that during the summer, children whose parents are working may be home alone.
“Some of the kids can’t cook yet. They don’t know how to make mac and cheese. So we asked for donations of food, especially food that can be cooked. [easy to make]”So it’s snack foods, boxes of macaroni and cheese that you just add water to and pop in the microwave,” she says. “I asked for things like spaghetti-Os and ravioli because the kids might be home alone and they needed something they could easily open and make themselves while their parents were at work.”
“We live in a time where children don’t have enough to eat during the day, and it’s an unfortunate reality, but we can come together as a community and really make a difference for our children,” Kramer-Leesberg said.
This month, she said, the Community Action food pantry ran out of funds.
“Donations at the end of this month will go a long way in helping restock our store shelves,” she said. “In July, we’ll start a new fundraising cycle again and have more money to buy food again. But in June, we were really looking for donations from the community, not just for children’s items, but for family and adult items in general.”
She said this will be a “huge help” for children who are home for the summer and need extra meals and snacks, but it will also be a big help to food pantries.
The bags filled by Camp Nauvoo participants are donated to Community Action food pantries in Keokuk and Fort Madison. Community Action serves the area in a variety of ways, including Head Start, home weatherization and rental assistance.
“What you’re all doing today is huge and we thank you all for your help, it wouldn’t have happened without you,” she said. “We receive a lot of donations for the food pantry, but by having each family donate a bag, we as the health department can put paperwork in there about free swim days and different community events that are happening.”
The campers quickly packed their bags, some of them returned to their tables to pick out some more food, but the food was all bagged and ready to be delivered to families in need.
