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Making Kids Count focuses on compassion, care
By Sean Barron
BOARDMAN
As about a dozen vol- unteers and staff members formed an assembly line to busily fill bags with assorted foods for area families in need, you might say that four “C’s” also were part of the mix – compassion, care, commitment and charity.
“We’ve filled about 240 bags of food this summer, so far,” said Jana Coffin, a co-president of Making Kids Count, a 6-year-old nonprofit organization with 15 programs dedicated to providing essential needs and positive experiences to children and their families in need while helping the youngsters to succeed.
The volunteers and staff spent about an hour Monday morning quickly filling 20 bags of refrigerated foods and 20 bags of pantry items during MKC’s final summer-food distribution effort at the organization’s office, 7178 West Blvd. Afterward, the groceries were distributed to 20 Boardman families in need.
Foods included cartons of eggs, fresh fruits and vegetables, loaves of bread, soup, cereal, dumplings and family meals.
The giveaway was the last of the organization’s six food drop-offs this summer, said Shelly Marlowe, another MKC co-president.
The items were delivered to the recipients’ homes partly because some lack reliable transportation, Marlowe said, adding that Rulli Bros. brought most of the food to MKC’s headquarters to be distributed.
“We try to give them enough food to last two weeks for breakfast and lunch,” noted Colleen Eisenbraun, program director.
Along with such offerings, recipients receive two recipes for meals to be prepared in crock pots, along with the necessary items and recipes allowing them to replicate those meals, Eisenbraun explained. Also, they get two kinds of fruits and vegetables with each distribution, she continued.
“This shows that it’s easy to cook at home,” Eisenbraun said.
Making Kids Count also extends itself to many local agencies with which it has a partnership. In addition, the organization has a host of programs that address a variety of other related needs.
Those include after-school tutoring, along with a diaper bank in which more than 10,000 packaged diapers have been donated to partner agencies to be given to eligible families the third Wednesday of each month year-round, Marlowe said.
MKC also has a Comfort Kit program, in which pajamas, toys, board games, toiletries and other items are given to children in Mahoning, Trumbull, Columbiana, Portage and Ashtabula counties who are in the foster-care system. Volunteers with the organization craft about 500 handmade blankets each year for the kits, Marlowe noted.
In addition, a Hope Totes effort provides for youngsters in Akron Children’s Hospital Mahoning Valley who were recently diagnosed with cancer, she continued.
“They kind of choose off a wish list. It keeps them busy during their chemotherapy appointments,” Marlowe said.
As much as the summer food-distribution efforts have benefited those receiving healthful foods and recipes, they also have touched MKC’s staff and estimated 20 regular volunteers, Eisenbraun explained.
“We’ve had a lot of great feedback, too,” she said, adding that recipients also fill out surveys. “We heard from one family who sent us a thank-you card.”