"A NOURISHING AFTERNOON" PRESENTED BYJunior League of Indian River
Thursday, October 29 th 4:00pm - 5:45pm - 8445 64 th Avenue Wabasso, Florida
Over 85 children living in the Wabasso area depend on Daisie Bridgewater Hope Center afterschool Monday through Thursday, with the waiting list increasing daily. The vision of this free program, which was incorporated and named for Verna Wright's mother in 2001, was to provide a nurturing, supportive environment offering homework assistance, intramural type activities and hot meals to children of single family homes. If Daisie Hope did not exist, 98% of the children would be latch-key kids.
Healthy Halloween trail mix, vegetable filled chicken quesadilla pie, a loaded salad bar, and a yogurt berry parfait were among the nutritious items prepared with the children of Daisie Bridgewater Hope Center on Thursday the 29 th of October. The Junior League of Indian River calls this program "Kids in the Kitchen" which promotes proper nutrition and creating healthy meals from appetizer to desserts to feed both the belly and the soul. In monstrous bowls pretzels, raisins, & cheerios plus were mixed to create a fit trail mix, which was then served by the child chefs. The chicken quesadilla pie incorporated three layers of fresh zucchini, salsa, cheese, grilled chicken and baked to a slight crispness. Ms. Green (the in-house Chef) welcomed the use of her ovens as the smell perforated the center. Upon completion of baking the kids enjoyed their quesadillas, along with building creative salads from a variety of vegetables in the self-serve salad bar, finishing with a fresh berry filled yogurt parfait. It is apparent that healthy eating habits are instilled at Daisie Bridgewater Hope Center, as many of the polite children ask for seconds on salad.
Quite obviously, Daisie Bridgewater Hope Center is a positive atmosphere with words such as "courage, believe and dream" painted upon the wall over the bookcase. In speaking with retired principle and volunteer Rita Johnson, I, Kris Gault learned about one of their new programs called "Girls with a Future" a mentoring effort that offers a consistent and stable forum of communication and incorporates journaling.
When asking Verna Wright about what Daisie Bridgewater Hope Center could utilize to better serve the community, her selfless eyes welled up. With the increasing need in the economic times, the addition of a full time staffer, food donations as well committed volunteers to that propagate the centers' positive message, would be the most immediate needs. Verna was so thankful and invited the Junior League of Indian River Back at any time. Led by organizer Mara Riley; Sarah Cobb, Sharon LeVan, Amy Colclough, Tiffany Sweeney, Cassidy Sweeny and I recognized we are all just ordinary people, however with partners like Daisie Bridgewater Hope Center we can do extraordinary things.
The Junior League of Indian River researches the unmet needs in the community and develops programs to address these gaps. When they get behind an idea, this dynamic group of active women can change a community for the better. www.JLIR.org
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