West Suburban Community Pantry offers summer camps

Summer camp is a popular way to learn and grow for many young people in DuPage and Will counties. But some families cannot afford the expense of a camp experience.

But in July, 90 area children started learning, growing and gaining life-long skills through summer camps facilitated by West Suburban Community Pantry.

Art camp offers youngsters the opportunity to express themselves and ease stresses they may be experiencing. Camp teacher Patricia Rutter has experienced both health and financial challenges herself and has used art to alleviate her stress.

So, when the opportunity to teach art camps at the pantry arose, Rutter was the obvious choice, Support Services Coordinator Nancy Chatterjee said in a news release.

“Wanting to give back is a testament to Patricia’s spirit. She is a great role model who understands the power of creative expression,” Chatterjee said. “She knows survival is about standing tall and moving forward in tough times, and she’s sharing that with our campers through art.”

The pantry also offers a cooking camp.

“Many of these kids find themselves responsible for preparing meals for themselves and their families both in summer and during the school year while parents work. And sometimes, families worry about where they will get food. “ Chatterjee said. “The goal is to make food a positive thing in families’ lives. And this is an ideal way for the pantry to extend our reach and get to know the families who need our help.”

Through University of Illinois Extension teacher Lisa Mills, campers learn to prepare nutritious and economical meals, and each camper goes home every week with a bag of produce so they can create meals for their families.

Camps take place at Downers Grove South High School.

“Having the access to appropriate home economics and art classroom has allowed us to expand the capacity for camps and enrich the curriculum,” Chatterjee said.

In addition to camp classes, campers and their families enjoy field trips to the Museums at Lisle Station Park, Cosley Zoo and an adventure park.

Funding for summer camps come from the Rotary Club of Naperville Sunrise, The Woodridge Police Department and additional grants designed to support students in need.

Students enrolled in the pantry’s English and math tutoring program, held on Saturdays throughout the school year and facilitated by partner not-for-profit En Espanol and Junior Board member Tai Nghiem, can take part in free STEM classes this summer.

“We spend approximately 45 minutes to an hour on the two experiments for each lesson, and the rest of the time is devoted to LEGOS.” Nghiem, a junior at Naperville North High School, said in the release.

“Each of our classes follows a specific theme, whether that be physics, or biology, broken down into fun experiments for our learners. We chose the pantry as one of our class partnerships specifically because of the great work that it does for our community.”