Weekly Media Roundup: March 6, 2019

Giving Back: Three O’Clock Project, inRegister (Louisiana)

When Emily Chatelain was working for a charter network, she realized how many students relied on school meals for their primary source of nutrition. She was inspired to create the Three O’Clock Project, which connects afterschool and summer learning programs with vendors to increase programs’ ability to serve healthy food. Today, the Three O’Clock Project sponsors 30 afterschool programs in Louisiana, bringing healthy afterschool and summer meals to more than 3,000 children. “What I want to do is give these kids good and equal access to healthy food,” Chatelain told the inRegister. “Every child deserves that.”

'Stronger to Serve' in The Woodlands Helps Kids Serve Their Communities, ABC 13 (Texas)

An afterschool program in Texas combines fitness and community service to develop physical and emotional strength in children. Stronger to Serve consists of a 30-week curriculum for students in kindergarten through eighth grade. It includes storybooks about community needs, physical activities like running and gardening, and volunteer projects that promote social and emotional learning. With each project, “[we talk] about how it might feel to be the person who had that need and how we all have needs sometimes,” Founder Teri Schmidt told ABC 13. “How it made [the students] feel to be able to do that project – conversations and that kind of reflection is what helps to develop empathy together and bring meaning out of the service experience.”

Couple Uses Online Boutique to Raise Money for Newton Falls After-School Program, WKBN (Ohio)

A new boutique in Ohio will devote 100 percent of its profits to supporting an afterschool program called Play it Forward. Adam and Amber Holley created the Forward Thread online boutique because their local school district was struggling financially. With funding from the boutique’s sales, the new afterschool program will provide academic support, warm meals, clothing and enrichment activities to 50 elementary students. “If one kid’s life is better from it, it’s an accomplishment and it’s all worth it,” Adam Holley told WKBN. “We’ve seen a lot of families that both parents go to work every single day...and we just wanted to be able to help them to be able to make it and make their life better.”

Black History Comes Alive, The Weekly Challenger (Florida)

Several afterschool programs held at the Thomas Jackson Recreation Center in Florida came together to celebrate Black History Month. Students danced, sang, and recited poetry and quotes by African American historical figures ranging from George Washington Carver to NASA Astronaut Mae Jemison. The evening also featured a demonstration by an afterschool martial arts program. The annual event increases students’ confidence, provides education about black history, and creates a meaningful experience for families. “[Students] get excited. That shyness and fearfulness leaves,” Supervisor Barbara Walton told the Weekly Challenger. “I see it brings so much joy to the children as well as the staff and myself.”