Ronald McDonald Adopt-a-Snack

Youth In Action participated in the Adopt-a-Snack program at Ronald McDonald House. We made these cute and delicious Frog Cupcakes for families of sick children. As people at the cupcakes they couldn't help but smile!

Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture 2!

The CCUA Farm at Smith and Fay

Jill with her carrot she pulled from the ground.

Adam holding his new favorite farm cat.

Muslimah with her carrot.

The volunteers help melons climb up the rope.

Team Building Day!

Youth In Action doesn’t let the rain stop the fun! On the a stormy July Tuesday, Youth In Action headed out to Stephens Lake Park to eat pizza, and get to know each other. We played Parcheesi, spoons and the muddy tree-hugger. The hit of the day was swimming at Stephens Lake Park; we even built a sandcastle with a 360 degree moat!

The ground was so wet we hung our belongings on trees and on a fence.

The Start of the castle!Silly Josh, don't step on the castle!

Mount Saint JoshTylerLogan

Paquin Towers Wii Bowling Tournament

On Thursday June 24^th, Youth In Action participated in Paquin Towers Wii Bowling Tournament. The Parks and Recreation department organizes a variety of activities at Paquin Towers for the elderly and individuals with disabilities. Seven people competed to become the Wii Bowling Champ. Personally I was way out of my league. Everyone was bowling turkeys left and right. Caitlin made it to the next round and ended up getting 3^rd place! The winner was an older man in a wheel chair. He was phenomenal and at one point bowled 7 strikes in a row!

All the Wii Bowling competitors; the winner with his award(second from the right).

Stream Cleaning with the City of Columbia

Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture

June 21^st, 9 a.m. Youth In Action met at the office of Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture. It’s a quaint little house from the outside; the backyard contains a chicken coop and the world’s sweetest dog trying to play with us and not caring that chickens were all around him. To the right of the house is a community garden plot and one the corner of the street is a well established demonstration garden. The rows are organized and neat; it is obvious that careful, experienced hands created this garden. The plants are big and healthy; there are no chemicals used in this garden, simply compost and care.

Daniel from CCUA educating us.

The food is technically not organic, since that word can not be used without federal approval. My favorite plant to see growing was the blue berries. Since Missouri weather is not ideal for blue berries, as Daniel put it, “You have to trick them.” Growing this fruit requires digging trenches and filling them with straw to make them think they are in a bog.

The CCUA Farm at Smith and Fay.

After the grand tour we made the ¾ of a mile walk to the CCUA farm at Smith and Fay. It’s a large farm, around the size of an acre. Currently half is nice and neat; it looks well established
like the demonstration garden. The other half is a work in progress. YIA focused on this part—shoveling dirt to help prepare the land. After a couple hours of hot and hard work, we put down the shovels and learned how to plant bulbs. Everyone was enthusiastic about planting; who doesn’t love to play in the dirt!

Youth In Action learns how to plant bulbs.

Planting the bulbs.

Youth In Action contributed to Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture, a relatively new non profit in Columbia. Here’s their purpose statement form their website http://columbiaurbanag.org/about/

“Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture exists to help facilitate the development of a local food system in all of its many interrelated and complex components. These include but are not limited to compost, gardens, education, markets, commerce, policy, transportation, job creation, and city planning.”

Moving dirt to prepare the land.

Shoveling dirt to be moved.

Daneil for CCUA.

Brian, Holden and Morgan take a water break.

Look at all the dirt we moved!

Event hours: 15 Total hours: 81.5

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KMOS Kids Day 2010

KMOS is all about promoting literacy and so was Youth In Action at KMOS Kids day on June 19th. In a back hallway of Rock Bridge High School, we stood and helped kids pick out a book. We were located directly after Clifford, the big red dog. For some kids, meeting Clifford meant meeting one of their favorite children’s book characters. For others, it was more filled with tears than smiles (a giant red dog is not always easy to take). Whether they came smiling or crying, the kids we instantly excited when they realized they would each receive one free book. Of course, the Clifford books were extremely popular. “Ten Fat Turkeys,” was one of the volunteer favorites and soon became a Kids Day favorite as well.

KMOS estimated the 2,000 people would attend and while I don’t have the exact numbers, it felt like we served a couple thousand people. If a third of those people were children, that means about 700 children received a free book. Literacy rates can be can be affected by income level, so offering a book free-of-charge can help break that statistic. One of the fundamental steps in achieving literacy is being read to as a child. A book makes that possible. (University of Michigan) http://www.med.umich.edu/yourchild/topics/reading.htm

Handing out stickers to kids.

Setting up the table.

A child browses the book table.

Event hours: 25 Total hours: 66.5