Every summer for the past three years, children from Rosedale have filled the parish hall at St. Peter's Episcopal Church for three weeks of career talks, science visits, and arts and crafts. The program was born on the church's own food pantry line, where families kept saying the same thing: their kids needed somewhere to go.
"There is no community center or any other resource in Rosedale for the children," said Rev. Steve Foster, the parish's Rector. That's why he insisted from the start that the program be free.
That idea took shape through Yvonne Robinson, one of the church's wardens at the time. "What came back over and over was something for our kids to do," she said of the pantry-line survey that got it started. What began with about 20 children has grown to roughly 35 enrolled this year, under the day-to-day direction of program administrator Ludy Mills. "I think this is what God called me for," she said.
"What we're providing is a resource for them to grow into productive citizens," Rev. Foster said, pointing to the program’s etiquette classes and financial literacy workshops. "Folks don't think about saving, they think about spending. So, we need to think about how do we save, how do we budget?"
Support from Episcopal Ministries of Long Island has helped the program grow alongside its enrollment, funding everything from the daily hot lunch to field trips this year to the New York Hall of Science, the New York Aquarium, and White Post Farm.
More than half the children who attend aren't members of St. Peter's at all. The program is open to the whole community. Presenter and warden Marcia Parkin Bascom sees why it keeps drawing them back: "They’re like sponges," she said. "They're so open to just absorb anything and everything."
Two former participants have since graduated high school and gone on to college. Now they come back each summer to volunteer. Meanwhile, first-time attendees are excitedly asking if the program will return again next year.
