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Beginning in the summer of 1996, LoveLight provided summer lunches and activities for children in Portage County for 26 years. Over this period a total of 118,702 meals, more than 31,588 snacks, and 5,820 shelf stable weekend meals were provided. During COVID, food and materials for activities were sent home on a weekly basis during the school year.
Due to the COVID pandemic, during our summer 2020 program, a total of 14, 838 meals were picked up and taken home from four Kent neighborhood sites as well as the Brimfield Community Cupboard, i.e. LoveLight provided 7,419 non-congregate breakfasts and 7,419 non-congregate lunches. At the Kent sites, activities were also sent home for the children, including magazine subscriptions, art lessons and supplies, books, and cooking tools as well as chef hats and aprons which were purchased and continued to enrich the lives of the children in the subsequent months.
The federal government extended the program, and between October 2020 and mid- August 2021, we distributed 35,722 non-congregate suppers and 31,588 non-congregate snacks in partnership with the Brimfield Community Cupboard and Renaissance Family Center for children in Kent, Brimfield, and Windham, and 4,153 non-congregate breakfasts for Kent children.
After COVID, Kent City Schools began doing the summer lunches while LoveLight continued providing activities in lower-income areas of Kent.
In 2025, summer activities included:
Art lessons provided by artists Jeanne Henderson of October Sun Art Studio and Terri Stefanko of Light the Wild. Projects included decorating t-shirts, creating a wall hanging, paper bag puppets, tissue paper suncatchers, superhero drawings, and Play-Doh animals- Yoga conducted by Zoe Montez
- Games including giant Connect Four-type game, Charades, camping bingo, Headbandz, Hula Hoops cooperative game, Guess Who?
Swim party at Kent State University with transportation provided by Kent City Schools- Juneteenth celebration including food (barbecued chicken, corn bread, mac ‘n cheese, coleslaw) prepared by Bradley Robinson of Smashology Burgers
- Reader’s Theater, talent show, affirmations
- Origami, friendship bracelets, thank you cards
- Water play, blind obstacle course, nature scavenger hunt, drumming
- STEM activities: Water Wheel engineering, balloon popper science experiment
- Football, soccer, baseball
As children and teens become more inclined to be sedentary and devote increasing amounts of time to sitting at home watching television or playing games on the computer, it is increasingly important for their healthful development and future success to be outdoors receiving the benefits of fresh air, sunshine, and exercise as well as engagement in a variety of activities involving positive, face-to-face social interaction and skill, knowledge, and positive attitude development.
Besides the benefits to the children and their families, LoveLight’s summer program also supports our economy through local purchases and employment of Kent residents. An additional contribution of the program is the valuable experience gained by college students who are involved in the program and employment, mentoring, and work experience provided to teens via Ohio Means Jobs.
For information on previous summer programs:
