Summer vacation is over and for many children that meant family vacations, trips to the waterpark and summer camp; a time for running through sprinklers, building sand castles at the beach and quickly eating ice cream cones before they melted. And even when special activities weren’t on the agenda, moms were at home to keep an eye on everyone.
But for families living from paycheck to paycheck, this idyllic version of summer is nothing more than a fantasy. John May, board president of the faith-based nonprofit Feed the Lambs, knows full well the trouble youngsters can get into when left to their own devices. When May moved to Vero Beach in 1995, he wound up in jail after abusing drugs and alcohol.
“While I was in there I did some thinking and asked the Lord to take that desire out of me,” shared May. To fulfill his community service requirements he went to work at Our Father’s Table, a local soup kitchen. There he worked under the supervision of the late J. Ralph Lundy, who had also begun a free summer enrichment program for the children of struggling families.
“That’s when I knew that I wanted to help children,” said May, who ran Lundy’s Feed the Lambs Summer Camp for about two years before taking a full-time job with the Health Department.
The need for summer enrichment activities for low-income children was reinforced through his HIV Prevention work in the field.
“I noticed the kids didn’t have anything to do. They were just out there doing nothing,” May recalled. “If the Lord hadn’t delivered me from drugs, I don’t know where I’d be right now. And that’s where some of those kids were headed if they didn’t get some direction in their life.”
According to the most recent United Way of Florida ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) report, more than 40 percent of Indian River County households earn less than the county’s basic cost of living. With parents often working multiple jobs just to make ends meet, their children have nowhere to go when school lets out for 12 weeks over the summer.
With Lundy’s blessing, May reinstated Feed the Lambs in 2002, beginning with roughly 15 children, and soon added year-round after-school tutoring and mentoring.
While the program originated in the Gifford community and then operated for several years out of the United Against Poverty (then Harvest Food and Outreach) facility in downtown Vero Beach, three years ago they moved it to the South County area.
“There was such a need in this area of town and those needs were going unmet,” May explained. “We still aren’t able to serve all the children that could use our help.”
Seventy children enrolled in the summer camp and about 35 students attend tutoring and mentoring programs during the school year. The programs are geared toward students ages 6 to 14. To help reach older students, they provide an Electric Training Workshop at the Alternative Center for Education in Gifford and hope to eventually include home health and cosmetology.
Beth Hofer, principal of Oslo Middle School, the only Title I secondary school in the county, said she was thrilled to partner with Feed the Lambs.
“Our motto is ‘We believe in BLUE: B building relationships; L learning-centered; U understanding each other’s needs; and E excelling through rigor, technology and kindness at Oslo Middle.’ With this partnership, we are modeling what we are asking the students to do,” said Hofer.
“Having Feed the Lambs here, where the kids can build relationships with community members, have extra time for learning and have people who are caring that can understand their individuality, just sets the opportunity up for further achievement. We see learning gains as the children move from one grade to the next.”
“This is a program that helps underprivileged kids,” added Kenya May, Feed the Lambs’ program coordinator. “Parents can’t afford to pay for camp when they have four or five kids. Feed the Lambs is a nonprofit and it’s free to come here. The kids have fun, and they learn about God and Jesus.”
Campers started the day with breakfast and a morning fitness program, and later worked on reading and math skills through one-on-one and group instruction. Groups were scattered around the gymnasium, with one group maybe drawing pictures about a book they are reading, another playing Multiplication Ball and yet another concentrating on guided reading activities.
After completing their academics for the day, it was time for outdoor fun before lunch; playing games to burn off their youthful energy. Once a week they headed out on an adventure, such as visiting the pool, the library, nursing homes and even picking peas at the Shining Light Garden. The summer session ended with a special trip; this year a visit to LEGOLAND.
Ann Demps, who has seven grandchildren ranging in ages from 6 to 13 participating, said she is grateful for Feed the Lambs. “My daughter has five children and she’s a single parent. She lives in low-income housing and can’t afford for the kids to go to summer programs. This program is a blessing. I don’t know what she would do if the kids couldn’t come here.”
Jaimyah, 13, and Harmony, 11, said the camp is fun and agree that without it, they would be bored at home with nothing to do. In addition to all the great activities, Harmony said she has made some great friends.
“These kids need to know the three Rs – Respect, Responsibility and Rules,” explained May. To help stress the importance of making smart choices, May has elicited support from the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office and the Probation Office, among others.
Lisa Archer, Feed the Lambs’ vice president, said she can attest to the difference mentoring programs can make, explaining, “I grew up in extreme poverty and attended a similar program through the Salvation Army. Without them, I would have struggled. They taught me that there was more to life than what I was living and that I could be anything I wanted to be.”
Feed the Lambs relies on volunteer support from individuals and nonprofits such as Big Brothers Big Sisters and Epic Missions, as well as financial support from communities such as John’s Island and Grand Harbor, but additional volunteers, funding and supplies are always needed.
The students have raised funds through car washes and fish fries, and on Oct. 22 Feed the Lambs will host a gospel concert at the First Presbyterian Church.
For more information, visit feedthelambsep.com.