For five years now, Ursuline Academy girls have spent most Thursday afternoons volunteering at Kid’s Café at Our Daily Bread, located across from Findlay Market. Students spend an hour visiting with the children, reading stories, playing games, doing puzzles and crafts and more! Prior to our arrival, children at Kid’s Café eat a healthy dinner provided by Cincinnati Cooks, a program of the FreeStore FoodBank. Kid’s Cafés are afterschool programs that provide a safe place for low income children to play and an evening meal that they may not otherwise receive. We are happy to again be working with Kid’s Café at Our Daily Bread.

 

A unique feature of this program for Ursuline girls is that it does not require a year long commitment. Rather, students sign up on the Monday or Tuesday before they would like to attend. Sign up sheets are on the long bulletin board in the community service office. This is an ideal project for athletes who may only play one or two sports because they can sign up and attend on weeks that they don’t have practice or games. It is a program that provides flexibility to student volunteers.  We do encourage students to attend more than once. This program is most meaningful as the girls begin to develop relationships with the children at Kid’s Café, relationships that only happen through visiting on a more regular basis.