ROCKINGHAM — The Leak Street Educational and Cultural Center has been honored by the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina for the success of its after-school Kids Cafe Program just as the center prepares to begin its Summer Fun and Food Program on Monday.
The Kids Cafe Program, which started about five years ago, offers underprivileged children a free dinner that has been approved by the United States Department of Agriculture as a balanced, healthy meal. The state provides the food and a cook, while the center provides the building and pays other associated fees.
Between 50 and 60 students take advantage of the Kids Cafe each school year, up from its first year of 25 students, according to J.C. Watkins, honorary chairman of the center. The Food Bank began the Kids Cafe in 1999 and Leak Street is now one of the 26 programs offered in 25 counties in the state.
Leak Street’s summer program begins Monday, June 17 and runs to the end of July. Sponsored by the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina, it offers children breakfast and lunch while giving them physical and educational activities to do throughout the day. Watkins said the counselors take the children swimming, bowling and roller skating to get in their needed physical activity, and take them to the library and local museums to exercise their minds, among other activities.
There’s also a talent show, according to the Leak Street website.
“It’s a fun, recreational program,” Watkins said.
The summer program’s day lasts from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Registration will begin at 8 a.m. Monday at the center, located at 1004 Leak St. in Rockingham. The program is free, but they do ask for a donation. Those interested can call the Leak Street Educational and Cultural Center at 910-410-8580.
The summer camp typically has about 100 participants, which Watkins said is roughly the cutoff point for what Leak Street can handle.
Watkins said Leak Street was lucky to be among the first counties in the state to receive funding from Gov. Jim Hunt’s Save Our Students program, which allowed them to begin offering these programs in the late 1980’s. The first round of grants included more than $100,000 per year for staffing, materials and snacks to half the counties in the state, but the money eventually ran out, Watkins said.
Since then, the programs have survived by seeking out new funding sources.
The center is housed in the former Leak Street High School, of which Watkins is an alumnus, and he and other alumni got together to raise funds to renovate and reopen it as a community center after years of poor maintenance.