During the school year, lunch often isn’t a problem for low-income kids because they benefit from subsidized meals. But when summer rolls around, well, it’s another thing: Hunger becomes a real threat.
In Idaho, that situation is a bigger problem than you might realize. In fact, more than 90,000 kids experience hunger, according to the Idaho Foodbank.
The nonprofit doesn’t want these children to spend an entire summer with rumbling stomachs, so this year they are continuing their popular Picnic in the Park program — a massive effort to provide 60,000 meals to needy kids in the Boise area.
The initiative has 27 lunch giveaways planned for the summer— the majority of which will happen in public parks. During the noontime gatherings, Parks and Recreation Department employees and volunteers will be on hand to lead kids in exercise and games and the Idaho Commission for Libraries will bring bookmobiles to the events. The Idaho State Department of Education, the Boise School District, and Old Chicago Restaurant are also involved, contributing various things.
“I don’t know if there’s a better collaborative effort than this,” said Boise Mayor Dave Bieter told George Prentice of Boise Weekly. “Getting kids moving, reading, making good friends and developing healthy habits…this just gets better every year.”
Marty Zahn of Old Chicago explained to Prentice how the events work. “As the kids are eating their lunches, we begin some interactions…some small talk, asking them about their plans for the summer and whatnot. Then, it’s just natural to ask them to play some games.”
And after a nutritious lunch, the kids certainly have plenty of energy to play, read, and make friends.
MORE: This Young Child Has Big Plans to Feed His Hungry Peers
Tag: Boise
Remembering A World War II Vet Who Gave 3,000 Fellow Vets a Final Salute
World War II Veteran Kenny Smith believed in honoring his fellow vets — whether he knew them or not. In fact, his extraordinary commitment led him to assist with more than 3,000 funerals at the Idaho State Veterans Cemetery in Eagle, Idaho between 2004 and 2014. Not only that, but he also wrote down the names of each veteran whose funeral he attended in a log book and kept photographs and other mementos of these vets.
At the age of 86, Smith died just three days after the last funeral he attended on April 4.
Smith, who was the head volunteer at the cemetery, lost both of his legs to frostbite after serving in the Pacific with the Navy during World War II. He bought an all-terrain-vehicle to help him get around the cemetery. He would greet families in his ATV, and then rise on his prosthetic legs to salute the flag during the funeral services. Cemetery director James Earp told Matt Standal of KTVB, “Kenny was here watching the construction of the cemetery unfold, and it was a point of pride for him to understand it. He felt very much a part of this, and we all agree that Kenny is a big part of this cemetery.”
Before each funeral he volunteered at, Smith also took time to visit the resting place of his wife, who died in 2003. His daughter Sandy McCary told Standal, “He felt like could speak with her there. [He’d] communicate back and forth, and try not to miss her so much that way.”
Before Smith died, Idaho’s governor C.L. “Butch” Otter had honored him for more than 6,500 hours of volunteer service at the cemetery. Smith will be laid to rest with a military flag line on April 21. Let’s hold a moment of silence for this honorable American.
MORE: What This Woman Does for Families of Fallen Soldiers Will Warm Your Heart
These Exceptional Volunteers Step Up Whenever Vets Are in Trouble
Undoubtedly, it’s valuable to have someone who’s willing to listen to you talk about your troubles. But to have a complete stranger be willing to be there for you any time of day or night? That’s priceless.
In Boise, Idaho, a group of extraordinary volunteers makes themselves available to distressed vets suffering from PTSD — whenever they need someone to talk to and for however long it takes. Anytime police in Boise encounter veterans who are having substance abuse issues, are suicidal, or are experiencing other grave problems, they call Marnie Bernard, the founder of Idaho Veterans Network , and two other veteran-volunteers, who talk the vet through his or her trauma. “I have upon occasion, yes, gone and sat with someone who was either cutting or having a really hard time. Once we get them better, we plug them in to the system that’s set up for them,” Bernard told Karen Zatkulak of KTVB. “We watch them grow, usually within a couple weeks of joining us. They aren’t as scared anymore. They don’t have their backs against the wall. They realize they are with people who understand them.”
In addition to providing an open ear, the The Idaho Veterans Network sponsors weekly meetings for veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, offers legal advocacy for veterans who’ve run into trouble with the law due to their PTSD or traumatic brain injury, and throws events that get isolated veterans out of the house to socialize (via hunting and fishing expeditions or an annual racing night at the Meridian Speedway that drew about 5,000 vets and their families last year).
Boise Police Chief Mike Masterson said that his officers are encountering more and more distressed veterans. “It seems like we are getting about one a week.” He believes the police’s partnership with The Idaho Veterans Network has been invaluable. “I’m real proud that over the course of the last three years that we have saved somewhere around 15 lives in our community.”
MORE: This Paralyzed Veteran Can Hunt and Fish Again, Thanks to the Generosity of His Community