Lovejoy camp fosters personal growth
Summer Explosion Camp shares community resources with parents and kids
As soon as the school year comes to a close, dozens of kids then start their mornings at Lovejoy Baptist Church, where they are served breakfast before starting in on a day of recreational and educational activities.
Then, a second meal is served each weekday of summer before the young participants, ranging in age from 4 to 18 in the Summer Explosion Camp at the Branham Avenue church, head back home. The program runs through the summer until kids go back to school, said the Rev. Carey Ingram.
“Believe me, for some of these kids those meals may be all they get,” he said. “I know. I’ve been in their homes.”
The funding for supplying the free meals comes through a federal reimbursement program for sites approved by Bright from the Start: Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning.
On Friday, informational booths were set up inside the Joy Life Center by local organizations like the YMCA, Rome-Floyd County Commission on Children and Youth, Cub Scouts, Geor- gia Northwestern Technical College, Coosa Valley Habitat for Humanity, the Floyd County Sheriff’s Office K-9 Unit and more.
Parents and family members were encouraged to attend the camp with the kids to find out more about resources which may offer them assistance.
After making the rounds from table to table, kids picked up Mexican treats, including cake and lime sorbet, provided by La Mexicana Supermarket and Ice-Land of Rome.
In the parking lot across from the church, campers enjoyed being shown all the different features of a Rome-Floyd County Fire Department rescue truck and a Floyd Medical Center ambulance.
Over the course of the summer, the camp’s counselors and organizers work to keep school material fresh in kids’ minds while also helping them continue to learn more. Ingram said he leads a creative writing course which culminates with an oral presentation, helping kids harness their undeveloped oratorical skills. Kids are also exposed to Spanish, and they showed off the words they have learned with stickers on their foreheads Friday.
Since the camp is hosted at Lovejoy, faith plays a role, with Ingram speaking on the presence of God in campers’ lives and about how to do his good work. He also takes lessons from his latest book, “Rearing Children in a Postmodern World,” to help nurture the growth of the youth, or “hurting children,” who live in the presence of violence, drugs and other negative forces on their lives.
“We just want them off the streets and in a good place,” Ingram said.