Summer Day Camp

We are a provider for the Ohio Department of Education's "summer feed program," which extends the school lunch program. The mission is to provide children access to school food in the summertime when the schools are closed. This allows us to serve breakfast and lunch meals to over 2,500 children at our 15 sites throughout Columbus.

At our leading site, The Hardy Center, we strive to provide unusual, educational, and fun programming. In addition to the typical summer playground activities, children can participate in our karate program, arts and crafts, Lego league, our unicycle club dance and drama chess, and more. We also provide 10 weeks of reading instruction for children K through 3rd grade provided by certified Columbus city school teachers. Through our partnership with the Adam board, we also offer a comprehensive anti-drug and alcohol program.

With the assistance of other community partners, we can offer transportation for the children from designated bus stops close to their homes to the Hardy center. The summer program begins with the vans leaving the center at 8am to pick up about 300 children. Campers begin to arrive around 8:30 and enjoy free time on our three playgrounds, computer rooms, gym, and movie rooms until 10am when breakfast is served. At 10:30am, all the children go to their assigned classes for one hour. Sessions include arts and crafts, reading, bible study, life skills, drama, karate, gardening, industrial arts, sewing, nutrition, and chess. They are then released for more free play until they eat lunch at 1pm and then go home. This program is free for parents and children and operates over 50 days during the summer. We can provide this through relationships with our community partners. We are desperately in need of assistance in this worthwhile effort. Please consider joining us.