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Organization wraps up summer food program
BOARDMAN
Making Kids Count, a local organization founded in 2010, has a clear mission: “To make the lives of children and their families a little brighter by focusing on their individual needs.”
Employees and volunteers from the organization fulfilled that mission this summer by providing 12 Boardman families with groceries every other week since June 5, a program that wrapped up Thursday with one last delivery.
“We’re trying to make up for the lack of school lunches that are provided free or reduced for some families, so what we do is we get referrals from the school and we contact the families to see if they want to be a part of it, and we provide them with groceries that will hopefully last them about two weeks,” said Colleen Eisenbraun, program director for Making Kids Count. “We talk with the school, and they refer to us the extraordinary cases because these families are throughout the whole Boardman school district.”
“The idea is to encourage home-cooked meals and provide them with recipes that are easy to do,” she said. “We try to give them fresh fruit and veggies each week.”
Vegetables, fruits, meat, bread, butter, eggs, ice cream, milk, juice, cheese, cereal, bagels, cream cheese and canned foods were among the groceries the staff and volunteers dropped off Thursday, along with recipes for two dinners and the necessary ingredients. This week, the recipes were for a crock-pot pizza casserole and chicken and dumplings, but Eisenbraun said they include different recipes each delivery.
Making Kids Count was founded in 2010 by Jenny Kennedy, one of the organization’s four staff members. The others are all family — her daughter, Shelly Marlowe, and her daughter-in-law, Jana Coffin, are the co-presidents. Eisenbraun is her niece.
“I think I just felt like it was time to do something else besides what I always did,” Kennedy said about her decision to start Making Kids Count. “I just wanted to come to work and be able to help people out.”
The organization started small.
“We started just doing birthday parties at the Beatitude House ... and then we branched out,” Kennedy said.
They have more than 16 programs now, which include distributing 5,000 diapers a month to other local organizations, a tutoring program at Struthers Elementary School, a backpack program, an art program at Market Street Elementary School, distributing “comfort kits” to children who go through Mahoning County Children Services, giving “hope totes” to cancer patients at Akron Children’s Hospital, a new family assistance program in which they adopt and help a family for a few months, and the summer food program.
They started the food program last summer, and started out with nine families. This year they were able to help 12.
“It’s something that people seem to really like to get involved in, so we’d like to expand next year,” Eisenbraun said.
The organization spent between $4,500 and $5,000 on the grocery program this year, with about $3,500 coming from their budget and the rest from donations. Eisenbraun said they spend between $50 and $70 on each family for each delivery.
Each delivery included a loaf of wheat bread and a loaf of white bread, which Schwebel’s Bakery donated.
Eisenbraun said the best way to help the organization is to donate money or volunteer at one of their events.
To find out ways to get involved, visit www.makingkidscount.org.