A special invitation to lunch
Nazareth Baptist Church on North Lincoln Street in Washington is one of several local churches participating in the LeMoyne Multicultural Community Center’s summer initiative to provide healthy, free lunches to children.
The eight-week Camp Challenge program will kick-off Monday. Joyce Ellis, executive director of LeMoyne Multicultural Community Center in East Washington, along with seven local churches is aiming to provide 550 free lunches to campers.
Joyce Ellis remembers the hunger pangs. She can still describe the gnawing pain of an empty stomach, and the emotional pain of seeing her mother cry one day when there were only three potatoes to feed six hungry children.
“I knew we couldn’t just go to our refrigerator, open it up and there would be food, so this hits really close to home,” said Ellis, executive director of LeMoyne Multicultural Community Center in East Washington.
Partly motivated by her childhood experiences, Ellis teamed up with seven local churches to expand the community center’s free lunch initiative offered in conjunction with its eight-week Camp Challenge program. Last year, the center served free meals to more than 200 children. This year, beginning Monday and ending Aug. 21, organizers are aiming for 550.
Children involved in the center’s summer camp have been receiving free meals since 2009, but the “Nutrafit mobile feeding” initiative – fueled by donations – blossomed into a much larger program. Ellis said any child between the ages of one and 18 can request a free lunch by having a parent call 211 or the LeMoyne Center. Volunteers will be bringing healthy lunches to Jollick Manor, the West End, Lincoln Terrace and the 7th Ward, among other areas.
Ellis said Camp Challenge teaches children about nutrition, gardening and food preparation by giving them the chance to try new foods. Many children in the program have never seen kiwis or asparagus before, let alone tasted them.
At Washington School District, 79 percent of students (1,877 students) qualify for a free or reduced lunch, which is the highest of any Washington County school, according to state Department of Education statistics for the 2014-15 school year. At Trinity School District, 18 percent (997) qualify.
Hunger escalates in summer because many children can no longer rely on a free school lunch.
According to the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, which is helping to coordinate meal distribution sites in the region, “These children account for a potential total of 570,000 missed lunches because the resources available to them through their schools during the school year are no longer present.”
“It almost seems a shame that kids, for whatever reason, are forced to depend on school lunches,” said Tom Aloia, missions chairman of First United Methodist Church in Washington. “Just because school is out, all of a sudden eating is out, too. It doesn’t make a lot of sense.”
Aloia said many parts of Washington are still struggling economically, and the community needs to come together for support. The church is also gearing up for its annual Stop Hunger Now campaign in October and hopes to provide 30,000 meals this year.
First United is just one church that offered to help prepare and package the lunches for distribution. Other participating churches include Nazareth Baptist Church, Apostolic Christian Temple, Friendship Baptist Church, Legacy Church International, Church of the Covenant and West Washington United Methodist Church.
Donna Tarpley, a volunteer at Nazareth Church, said she was surprised to learn that so many children are forced to skip meals in the summer.
“Whatever we can do to make sure these kids get what they need, that’s what we’re going to do,” she said.
Meals will be offered at Nazareth Church every day, Monday through Friday, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. for the duration of the eight-week initiative. Meals will continue to be served at the LeMoyne Center for children participating in Camp Challenge.
In addition, South Central Elementary School, the Cokeburg Fire Hall and John K. Tener Library in Charleroi will be distributing free meals.
To reach the LeMoyne Center, call 724-228-0260.