A Cook County Sheriff’s Office youth outreach program and a Schaumburg-based charitable organization helped each other make a positive impact Wednesday both personal and international.
Twenty-three kids from the South suburbs taking part in the sheriff’s three-week Camp Nabad summer program spent the morning packing food at Feed My Starving Children for an upcoming overseas shipment.
Over the course of the two-hour session, the volunteers packed 155 boxes containing 33,340 individual meals — enough to feed 92 kids for a year. The value of the donated ingredients they assembled was $9,709.
The Schaumburg facility hosts five volunteer sessions a day, with the current packing record being 361 boxes for a single session, Volunteer Facilitator Dailyn Gricius of Hoffman Estates said. But that standard likely will be beat during the holidays.
“Christmastime is our busiest season because everyone wants to donate and volunteer,” she said.
Young participants in the Cook County Sheriff’s Office’s Camp Nabad make food packs Wednesday at Feed My Starving Children in Schaumburg.
Joe Lewnard/[email protected]
Before heading to a picnic lunch at nearby Busse Woods, members of Camp Nabad called the morning a meaningful part of a memorable summer program.
“I really liked it, and I do want to come back here,” said 12-year-old Troy Walker of Markham. “It was fun.”
He said his favorite part of the camp so far had been Tuesday’s visit to a private beach in Hammond, Indiana.
“I always wanted to go to the beach,” he said.
Lily Miller, 11, a participant in the Cook County Sheriff’s Office’s Camp Nabad, helps make food packs Wednesday for Feed My Starving Children in Schaumburg.
Joe Lewnard/[email protected]
Za’naya Long, 14, of Markham said she’s enjoyed all the new places, people and experiences she’s encountered in the camp, but that Wednesday’s activity was distinct among them.
“Today, I did a lot more work and learned more about helping people and packing stuff,” she said.
“I feel that we did something helpful to other kids who are struggling to get something to eat,” added 13-year-old Isabella Rayo of Harvey.
She said her favorite parts of the camp were learning CPR and the trip to the beach. She’s looking forward to an upcoming visit to Pelican Harbor Aquatic Park in Bolingbrook on the camp’s final day.
Jayceon Wallace, 10, of Ford Heights is holding the packet to which food is added as the Cook County Sheriff’s Office’s Camp Nabad makes food packs Wednesday for Feed My Starving Children in Schaumburg.
Joe Lewnard/[email protected]
Deputy Stefana Castillo, who has accompanied the kids on their trips, said they’ve also loved the Pullman Porter Museum in Chicago and Brookfield Zoo. And if one ever thought the campers weren’t paying full attention to what they were being taught, all they had to do was listen to them excitedly conveying it back to others later, she added.
Sheriff Tom Dart said he inherited a form of the program for fourth through 10th graders when he took office, but it’s been tweaked a number of times over his 18 years in office. The name of the camp comes from the Somali word for peace, he added.
Ingredients are poured through a funnel Wednesday as the Cook County Sheriff’s Office’s summer day camp makes food packs for Feed My Starving Children in Schaumburg.
Joe Lewnard/[email protected]
Though about 50 kids are enrolled, the number participating on any given day can vary. Dart noted that his office often is called on to fill a different niche in the South suburbs than in the better-resourced Northwest suburbs.
“Getting the kids there is the whole ballgame,” he added. “(The camp) has a way of opening up the world to them.”
Completed food packs rest in the foreground as volunteers from the Cook County Sheriff’s Office’s summer day camp make food packs Wednesday for Feed My Starving Children in Schaumburg.
Joe Lewnard/[email protected]