Weekly Media Roundup: January 13, 2020

YMCA gives kids ‘a dose of normal,’ Martha’s Vineyard Times (Massachusetts)

To help students overcome isolation and disconnection, the YMCA of Martha’s Vineyard is providing in-person programming for students each afternoon. The program provides enrichment activities and focuses on developing character, and each month its lessons have a different focus, with outer space the theme this month. In addition to social distancing and other precautions, students provide a daily attestation form that includes health screening questions to determine exposure to COVID-19 or symptoms. “We are trying to bring a dose of normal into kids’ lives and give them more adults in their lives that they can trust and depend on — and you know, sometimes a little bit can go a long way,” said Kelly Neadow, senior program director for youth and staff development.

Afterschool Programs helping prepare children for STEM careers, Avery Journal (North Carolina)

Afterschool students around the country spend their afternoons building robots, learning computer coding, investigating soil conditions to plant community gardens, and more. Many afterschool programs are delivering STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) curriculum during the pandemic, with take-home kits or lessons that use materials readily found in most homes. “As an educator, a lesson stands out for me: the vital role that the STEM disciplines play in our lives, now and in the future. It’s why afterschool programs in North Carolina and elsewhere have put so much focus on the STEM fields in recent years… We know that afterschool programs are uniquely suited to the kinds of sleeves-rolled-up activities that are so vital to STEM education,” writes Afterschool Ambassador Emily Neff, director of youth development for W.A.M.Y. Community Action, Inc. in Boone, North Carolina.

Youth organization expands its efforts to provide weekend meals to Waldo County residents, News Center Maine (Maine)

Thanks to a grant from FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) and donations from local charities and businesses, the Game Loft has begun weekend deliveries of essentials to community members who cannot come to the program to pick up food. The 23-year-old afterschool program in Belfast, Maine has expanded its services, providing free, nutritious, freshly cooked meals, along with personal hygiene items, puzzles, and hand-selected books to people who are isolated and might otherwise go hungry. Game Loft volunteer Thelma Howard told News Center Maine the goal is “just keeping in touch and letting the kids feel like they still belong, and they are still a part of something. These bags have some thought and there’s a little bit of that personal touch that goes with it and it is felt by the kids out there.”

Boys & Girls Club of Daleville open for business, The Southeast Sun (Alabama)

Undaunted by the pandemic, in late October the mayor joined with state legislators and other officials for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to open the new Boys & Girls Club of Daleville. Today, the Club, which provides a safe, structured environment for students, is thriving and participation is growing. The Club is “turning a vision of this into a reality. In our small towns today that is what it’s going to take. We have to recapture that ownership and city pride,” State Sen. Donnie Chesteen said.