By David Fleet
Editor
It’s been about six years since the first box of cereal and gallon of milk were provided for area hungry children during the summer months.
It’s that time of year once again.
At 1 p.m., each Sunday June 23-Aug. 25 the Ortonville United Methodist Church will be hosting their annual Village Kids Breakfast Club.The program provides cereal and milk from Cook’s Dairy Farm to low income families in the area.
“We’re trying to fill the gap and make sure our kids have food to eat during the summer,” said Lisa Merglewski, leader at OUMC. “Believe it or not, some area kids only eat at school for breakfast and lunch during the school year. We want to offset the cost of having kids at home during the summer.”
This summer the “backyard ministry’s” leadership has changed and now OUMC youth have stepped in to keep it going. OUMC youth leaders Sydney and Brooklyn Pethick will now coordinate the efforts that collects about 800 to 1,000 boxes of cereal every year.
“We’re always in need of donations,” said Sydney. “There are drop off boxes are around the area for donations. We have about 30-40 kids each week during the summer, so contributing a box or two each week goes a long ways.”
Drop boxes are placed at Bueche’s, Creations Salon in Ortonville, Impact Smoothies in Ortonville, Brandon Community Church, Seymour Lake United Methodist Church and Hope Horse park.
Go to ortonvilleumc.org to register for the Breakfast Club.