DULUTH, Minn. (Northern News Now) – For the past 43 years, the Damiano Center has been helping the Duluth Community.
But it wasn’t until after the turn of the century that kids’ programming was included.
Back in 2001, a child in the neighborhood was locked out of his house, starving, so the child went where many people go when in need of a meal — the Damiano Center.
“The executive director at the time, she happened to be here that night. So, when he broke in, she asked him what was going on,” said now Executive Director Seth Currier. “He told the story, and she was like, we really need a kids’ program.”
Now, for almost 25 years, the Kids’ Kitchen drop-in center has opened its doors Monday through Thursday from 2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. to provide dozens of kids with free meals in a place where they have the freedom to be a kid.
“They know that it’s here and they know that it’s safe and they know if home is not safe, the streets not safe, they can come in here and get food,” said Currier.
Volunteers help the kids with their homework, educational projects, crafts, and anything they need while in the space.
According to Currier, many of the Kids’ Kitchen participants’ parents use the multitude of programs offered by the Damiano Center, which makes it easy to drop in.
“There are so many kids that when they get out of school, sometimes they need a place to hang out,” said Children’s Program Manager Maria Alicea. “Parents want to make sure they are safe, and there’s so many parents who are probably struggling, maybe two or three jobs, and they can’t afford to do an after-school program, and here it’s all free.”
And the kids can’t get enough of it.
“The kids want to be here, they can’t help but want to be here. Some of them say ‘this will be my next job’ and I say ‘good take my job,’” said Alicea with a laugh.
Luckily, they can get an early start with the Summer Food Corps, another program offered by the Damiano Center, which brings teens into the workforce and vegetables to the table.
The group is made up mainly of 14-17 year olds and teaches them how to grow organic food along with what it takes to have a job.
“The younger kids get like excited about eating the food, the older kids are excited about, so we’ve had people arguing over broccoli and who’s going to get the broccoli and stuff like that,” said Currier.
For more information on Kids’ Kitchen, click here.
For more information on the Summer Food Corps, click here.
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