West Jackson youth find respite and gain skills at Stewpot summer camp ...Middle East

Stewpot Community Services is one of Jackson’s main meal kitchens and provider of shelters for people experiencing homelessness. Jeffries is one of about 150 children who are here for the summer camp, and she said spending time at Stewpot allows her the chance to do something other than being at home. 

“ It gives me time to breathe,” she said. “I get to relax and I don’t have to worry about anything happening here. I get to cook stuff. I get to enjoy myself.”

Yolanda Kirkland, Stewpot’s director of teen services, said that’s the point. She hopes to cultivate a welcoming environment where her campers can be comfortable.

“ It’s very important that people have places of rest,” Kirkland said. “I think when they’re in a place where they are loved, they can rest.”

Stewpot has held summer camps for children in west Jackson for more than 30 years. The seven week program is designed for students who are in kindergarten through 10th grade. Here, children from underprivileged communities can go on excursions with peers and take part in educational opportunities, such as weeklong camps at the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science and biology lessons in the garden behind the Teen Center. 

On this day, volunteers from Brilla Soccer Ministry are teaching a group of middle schoolers the basics of soccer, while others are headed to the Two Mississippi Museums. The next day, the teenagers will be headed to Spinners roller rink in nearby Florence for skating or the Margaret Walker Alexander Library. There’s a well-rounded calendar of activities which keeps them social while also opening their worldview.

“ I want the kids to know they do have a rich community in Mississippi,” Kirkland said. “Some of our students stay in one location. They stay around their neighborhoods. I try to expose them to what’s in Mississippi. I want them to know what they have in their state that’s unique.”

That includes trips all across the state, such as the Grammy Museum in Cleveland or the Biedenharn Coca-Cola Museum in Vicksburg. 

“We go everywhere if I can get there in our little mini-bus,” Kirkland said. “If I can get there and get back for 3:00, we’re gone.”

Verse Norris, a rising eighth grader, said he finds the summer camp fun because she’s introduced to something new every day.

“It is adventurous. You never know what could happen,” Norris said. “They take you somewhere fun and there’s a lot of other things to do, like cooking and gardening. You just do more stuff than you can at your normal summer camp.”

But Stewpot’s summer camp isn’t just about having fun. Nearby, in a building adjacent to the Teen Center, LaQuita White helps a young camper attach yarn to a craft project. Today, they’re learning about summer fruits. 

“Some of our kids don’t usually have things to do in the summer, and our camp keeps them engaged and thriving because we also do learning,” said White, director of children’s services at Stewpot.  “We do summer reading. We do STEM activities. We do a little math because we have JPS tutors who come weekly and do different educational activities with them.”

Studies have shown that children are at risk of losing vital reading and math skills during the summer months when they aren’t in school. Children who come from lower-income households, like many of the children that Stewpot serves, may find themselves at a greater disadvantage. 

“We are here for them, because some of our parents can’t afford to send them to a seven week summer camp, and so if we were not here, they’d probably more than likely just be sitting at home or at grandma’s house with nothing to do. No learning going on, no reading,” she said. 

White said that she wants her campers to thrive and grow, even as they age out of her program and into the teen group and beyond.

“Our big thing here is graduation. That’s the name of the game,” White said. “Educate, motivate, graduate. That’s our motto.”

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