Capstone camp features gardening project, cooperative efforts

Thursday, July 29, 2010

By MISSY HARRIS
Inquirer Reporter
mharris@galioninquirer.com

This summer, for the first time, Capstone Enrichment Center has offered a summer camp for kids. The free, seven-week program — affectionately dubbed “Campstone” by some of the campers and staff — began in mid-June; its final week is next week.

Over the course of the last several weeks, the camp has met three days of each week, serving about 15 kids each day of the camp. Two days of the week, the campers are at the Capstone school in Uptowne Galion or out on field trips. On Wednesdays, the kids spend their days on the Children’s Services grounds on Harding Way West, gardening in the mornings and talking and playing in the afternoon.

Capstone students got first priority for the camp sign-up, then the program was open to the public. The camp’s participants are about half Capstone students, while the other half come from outside the Capstone program.

The campers’ activities have included: swimming at least once a week, gardening weekly, arts and crafts, reading, eating lunch and playing various games such as frisbee, tag, hide and seek, tennis and baseball.

“We’ve been in operation for a few weeks now and have been having a lot of fun,” said Social Worker Lisa Shea. Through the camp, Shea stated, “We hope to provide structure and support for youngsters during the summer months and also allow them to have experiences they might not otherwise have.”

The camp represents the coordinated efforts of many agencies and volunteers. Mid-Ohio Educational Service Center donated space and fiscal support. Crawford County Children and Family First also contributed.

FAST funds paid for gas vouchers for parents who have to drive their children to Galion from other area towns. Shea explained, “For parents who have to drive from Bucyrus three days a week, the expense can be kind of a hardship, so the vouchers really help.”

With the cooperation of Lori Pennington of the Bucyrus City Schools, the camp participates in a free lunch program. In this, one parent has been “especially helpful,” said Shea; Rose Cundiff has been transporting lunches from Bucyrus for the kids. Cundiff has also regularly brought her own child to the camp, as well as another child who had no ride.

Galion Pizza Hut has also contributed, pledging to donate 10 pizzas for one of the final days of the camp.

One of the biggest projects through the camp has been the garden, which has been possible through the cooperation of Crawford County Children’s Services. In addition to their offer to help out with property, Children’s Services also offered the services of one of their agency’s workers, Natasha, who joins the five Capstone employees in overseeing the camp.

Children’s Services also offered transportation — two vans — for the camp’s field trips. Some of the campers’ field trip destinations have been Lowe-Volk Park, a fishing trip, geocaching expeditions and other nature explorations. At one of the nature outings, a camper shared with the Galion Inquirer, the kids got “up close and personal” with some salamanders.

Yet more donors have also been instrumental in the camp’s garden’s success: Russ and Mendy Sellman of Rus-Men Farms donated their time, effort and equipment for the plowing of the large garden plot. Dale and Toni Norwood of Springwood Valley Farm provided the plants. Both Mendy and Dale also came out and helped the kids plant their crops.

The campers reported that the produce they planted includes onions, beans, cabbage, lettuce, radishes, tomatoes, peppers and squash. The youngsters not only helped with planting and putting down newspaper and straw in the early stages of growth — they also spent part of each of the last several Wednesdays pulling weeds and watering the plants to keep their garden producing at its best.

Now, they’re starting to harvest some of the fruits of their own labor.

Crawford County Job and Family Services Director Tom O’Leary emphasized the importance of this effort on the kids’ part, calling it “an important life lesson.”

“Many years ago, there was a huge garden here (on the Children’s Services grounds in Galion) farmed by the children,” O’Leary related. “There was even a herd of cattle pastured on the property back then… The children’s home kids would push carts around the neighborhood, selling vegetables to the neighbors. The kids raised a lot of their own produce that they sold.”

O’Leary continued, “This (Capstone camp gardening project) allows the current generation to experience the same thing… And the kids’ excitement is palpable.”

The approximately 20-acre Children’s Services grounds were described by O’Leary as “a little treasure — an undeveloped treasure.” O’Leary went on to say, “We (at CCJFS) have a goal to use this site for the young people of the county. Now, we’re just skimming the surface.”