Why Healthy Happy Kids Matters So Much – Stop by the Martha’s Vineyard Boys & Girls Club, and you will be greeted by dozens of smiling faces. Why? Well, the After School Program at the Club is a place where a kid can be a kid.
Each week, hundreds of Island kids spend their afternoons at the Club. Here, they can play with their friends, play in the gym, participate in homework club, get creative in the art room, and more.
When I stopped by the day before Christmas break, there was an energy and excitement that was felt all throughout the Club.
There were kids playing board games and legos. Kids playing basketball, and the art room was busy with kids making crafts. It was in the craft room that I met Angel (on the right).
Angel is in first grade at the Edgartown School, He is a happy guy, quick to smile and light up your day. He is a smart and funny kid! I asked him why he liked the spending time at the Club. Of course he said art and spending time with his friends, but what resonated most with me, was that he also mentioned food.
Healthy Happy Kids Food Program
The food program at the Club, Healthy Happy Kids, provides so much more than just a snack. It is more like a meal each day after school, and that meal is free of charge because of generous donors like you! Whether the child is rich or poor, there is no distinction regarding access at the Club. It’s all about them, their health, their happiness.
Never as a parent myself did I consider how widespread food scarcity is on Martha’s Vineyard and its impact on our youth. Being a part of Point B’s Martha’s Vineyard Teddy Bear Suite Fundraiser and raising money for Healthy Happy Kids has been an eye-opening experience, and is one of the many reasons we as a team are so passionate about fundraising for H2K.
Healthy Happy Kids provides food for 1 in 3 Island public school children, K-8, hundreds of kids each week. It is our goal to raise the $45,000 needed to underwrite the Healthy Happy Kids program. This will ensure free nutritious food for the school year. We are only $16,000 away form making this a reality. Click here to donate today!
Teddy Bear Suite Fundraiser
In addition to the monies from the MV Teddy Bear Suite, Healthy Happy Kids has been recognized by other organizations and businesses as a program important to support.
Healthy Happy Kids Partners
Island Grown Gleaning provides fresh Island grown produce to the families of the Club. Because local veggies are limited this time of year, the Boston Food Bank has is supplementing Healthy Happy Kids with additional fresh fruit and veggies.
Because the need to access to food continues after the Club closes its doors, Healthy Happy Kids also provides food bags to take home on the weekends and sometimes week days. Each bag contains items like pasta, sauce, canned veggies, changing weekly.
It’s incredible how the Boys & Girls Club is doing so much to address food scarcity on the Island. The staff has seen first hand just how hard things are for some families, and they work tirelessly to do what they can to ease the burden.
However, they need your help to continue and do more. Each school year the need grows more and more. DONATE NOW
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