A SUMMER FILLED WITH CELEBRATIONS

A tiny voice was heard from below, “Can I see that?” Little Jessica with her bright blue eyes and blonde Raggedy Anne hair was pointing up at the camera. Her radiant smile made her request to see the camera hard to refuse, but she did accept something in its place that was far more meaningful and desired– a hug.

Jessica was one of many kids attending Sidewalk Celebrations, an outreach program geared specifically to children in “at-risk” neighborhoods and mobile home parks in Hampton Roads, Virginia. Through the program's four-day long summer camps, kids learn about proper nutrition, participate in fun games, make crafts that they can take home, and they receive a bag of groceries for themselves and their family provided by Operation Blessing, but most importantly, they receive the attention and nurturing that they so desperately need.

The participants come from homes where many of the parents are jobless. The only glimmer of hope for these children comes from the generosity of strangers. Lynne and her team, comprised of many former participants in the Sidewalk Celebrations' program, are determined to show compassion and care to these kids.

CELEBRATING COMPASSION

Sidewalk Celebrations, part of Reaching Our Communities, Inc. based in Virginia Beach, began in 1996 at a local mobile home park as a means to reach out to children afflicted by poverty and despair. Founders Lynne and Larry Zotzmann had a strong desire to demonstrate to these kids that someone cared about them and wanted to instill in them that there was hope and a future. According to Lynne, “The needs of children residing in America’s impoverished communities are huge.” And, to assist them further, it made sense to her to include a practical aspect to her already existing summer camp program.

As a volunteer organizer with Operation Blessing's local food distribution program in the late 1990’s, Lynne was introduced to an OB-inspired nutrition program called “Project W.I.N. (Winning Is Nutrition).” Lynne recalls, “The Project W.I.N. nutrition program enabled us to …meet the needs of the children we serve [in a practical way]." From this blueprint, she and friend, Terry Miller created “Jump Start Your Heart,” a practical nutrition program centering on the U.S. Food Guide Pyramid.

GOOD NUTRITION AS A WAY OF LIFE

Since proper nutrition is important to the quality of life, Lynne has made "Jump Start Your Heart" a prominent part of summer camp. Through games, question and answer sessions, songs, and skits, the Sidewalk Celebrations staff educates kids in making proper food choices. They have created cleaver ways to instill this knowledge in each child. The kids can look forward to “Bean Day,” “Pickle Day” and “Jonah Day.” On these days, snacks are served that correspond to the food subject being discussed that day. For example, on "Bean Day," the snack includes bean burritos, on "Pickle Day," the snack is pickles and on "Jonah Day," the snack is tuna sandwiches.

To further instill proper nutrition, free groceries, provided by Operation Blessing and its many generous corporate donors, are given to each child at the end of class. “Parents are more than happy to have their children involved in a program that educates, feeds and provides take-home groceries for their children...,” noted Lynne.

And no doubt, parents can look forward to sending their kids to Lynne’s Sidewalk Celebrations’ summer camp next summer. It is certain that every child attending this year’s camp left with an armful of groceries, a full stomach and a big smile.

To learn how your company can partner with Operation Blessing and the Hunger Strike Force to provide food items to the needy in America,
call 1-800-436-6348
or email us at
info@hungerstrikeforce.org