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KINGS summer day camp nurtures well-rounded students
By LINDA M. LINONIS
YOUNGSTOWN
A summer day camp at E.B. Family Life Center promoted creativity and self-sufficiency, prevented summer learning loss and packed multiple activities into the nine-week session.
Kings (Keep Integrating New Generations) Kamp, which concluded Friday, began June 13 at the center, 7 S. Garland Ave., with a daily average of 35 campers from kindergarten through fifth grade. Campers hailed from Mahoning and Trumbull counties; Deacon Darrell McGhee handled transportation.
LaDonna R. Walker, director, supervised the program from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays. She said the youth choir, mime group, sign language and Spanish students from the camp will participate in a service at 10 a.m. Sunday at Elizabeth Missionary Baptist Church, 1210 Himrod Ave., which sponsors the camp. The center is the former church on the East Side.
Community Initiative to Reduce Violence (CIRV) funded the camp through a grant and donations also came from church members and T.J. Rodgers, 2nd Ward council member.
Walker said she takes the family life center’s mission, “Strengthening the Community One Family at a Time,” to heart.
“This is about the total child,” she said of academic and recreational activities. “I want students to know people in the community care about them and want them to be successful in life. This is a safe environment.”
The camp, she said, falls in line with the church mission of going beyond the walls. “The program reaches out in the community and builds people up.”
Math and reading tutoring are priorities. “That’s a way to reduce learning loss over the summer,” she said. “We want students to be prepared when school starts.” For younger campers, staff from Youngstown Mahoning County Library presented story times.
The camp also nurtures creativity through arts and crafts. Sessions with religious and secular themes have produced visors, T-shirts and “believe” signs made by students.
A weekly cooking class had a practical goal. “We want to teach them how to make a simple meal on their own without using the stove,” Walker said.
The camp provides breakfast and lunch daily. Kings Kamp partnered with Neighborhood Ministries to provide food including weekend take-home meals.
“The children learned about measurements and how to follow directions for a recipe,” Walker said, adding that organizing ingredients is emphasized. There are also safety and cleanliness components.
Staff from the Ohio State University Extension Office offered health and nutrition classes to teach children about healthy eating.
Walker credited students with asking that mime be incorporated in the dance-line activities. “They wanted to learn what is was about,” she said.
A volunteer, minister Cornelius Laster of Elizabeth church, taught mime. The dance and mime activities were more than fun, Walker said. She noted participants learned about timing, coordination, pacing and keeping a beat.
Sign language was taught by Taylor Howard, teen counselor. “They learned something new that could be a help in their families with someone who has a hearing issue,” Walker said. She added it also was discussed as a career possibility.
Berah Brown, teen counselor, instructed a Spanish class.
“We live in a multi-cultural community. Knowing another language helps,” Walker said.
Children also took field trips to Mill Creek MetroParks, Tyler Mahoning Valley History Center and the movies. For the second year, Delphine Baldwin-Casey, retired Youngstown police officer, conducted a junior police academy. Jose Morales Jr., East Side community police officer, visited the camp.
An after-school and day- care program will start in September. For information, call the church at 330-746-7190.