LeMoyne Community Center in need of volunteers to help with programs
Courtesy of LeMoyne Community Center
Children were hard at work and having fun at the LeMoyne Community Center, where they worked in teams to build gingerbread houses.
Courtesy of LeMoyne Community Center
Children at LeMoyne Community Center had fun creating gingerbread houses. The center hosts a variety of programs for kids in the Washington community.
Courtesy of LeMoyne Community Center
Firefighters from the city of Washington Fire Department recently visited the LeMoyne Community Center’s Homework & More after school program, where kids learned about fire safety and talked with firefighters.
After school on weekdays throughout the school year, the LeMoyne Community Center is a hub of activity, with children from the city of Washington working on homework, playing games and enjoying a healthy dinner and snacks.
Homework and More is an after-school program serving about 80 youths in grades kindergarten through nine.
Volunteers and college students assist children with their homework, a service that’s especially important during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to executive director Linda Harris.
“COVID took a toll on kids,” said Harris. “Right now, the youth need us. We’re seeing in our after-school program how kids are struggling academically, and we need to do everything we can to lift them up and get them back on track.”
The community center, which recently celebrated its 65th anniversary, also provides a variety of enrichment classes, including reading clubs, STEM classes, music, art, life skills, recreation and more in order to help the community thrive.
Programs include Camp Challenge, a summer school program; the Nutrafit Feeding program that serves meals daily throughout the summer to between 600 and 800 children in almost 20 locations around Washington County; Coco’s Christmas, which provides Christmas presents to families experiencing financial hardship; and the American Girl Book Club, a book club for girls from third grade and up based on the American Girl historical book series.
The center’s renovated gymnasium, which features a new floor and bleachers, and holds about 200 people, was recently completed.
But, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the center has lost volunteers, and Harris said the LeMoyne Center is struggling to get enough to run its programs.
“We need volunteers. We have between 70 and 80 kids every day at Homework and More, and we need help. We also have enrichment programs, and in prior years we were able to do more things because we had enough volunteers,” said Harris. “There’s so much more we could be doing if we had the volunteers.”
The center also is seeking monetary donations to fund its programs.
“The goal is to keep the center thriving, to grow even bigger, to grow more and do more for the community,” said Harris.
Harris said there are plans to provide more activities for both children and adults, including STEAM classes and a drug and alcohol prevention program. The center recently received $5,000 in funding from the Washington County Community Foundation to initiate the drug and alcohol prevention program.
“The world is full of opportunities, and we want kids to take advantage of those opportunities,” said Harris. “We want to expose kids to different things, and we want them to get out there and give it their best.
For more information about the Lemoyne Center and how you can get involved and help, please visit the website at lemoynecommunitycenter.org.