Welcome to Families First Monthly

From The Heart

Summer is giving us longer days to fill with work and play, and green beans from our garden. Soon we will have yellow squash, zucchini, and tomatoes. Last year I took a second job with Northport School as kitchen staff (Lunch Lady) and enjoyed working with the foods and learning new things. I loved to see and taste the creativity displayed by our cooks when large quantities of fresh fruits and vegetables arrived from the local farms. My job there inspired me to include some school lunch related stories in this issue. I asked an elementary student to write a story about trying new foods at school and home and encouraging others to expand their taste buds, as it was apparent to me she was a Foodie. I enjoyed seeing kids getting excited about their food, especially when the Farm to School program was happening in the cafeteria. It is a program from The Traverse Bay Intermediate School District and includes several schools in the area. Kids get to try new foods or foods they may be familiar with prepared in new ways. And all the samplings offered are healthy and colorful.

There are additional school-related stories including The Northport Promise charity. In 2008 Ryan Blessing was in the first graduating class to receive money towards college through their scholarship program. Now he is a board member involved with planning and fundraising. I asked him to write the story because I thought other schools and area communities could be interested in initiating something similar for their students.

My husband Joe and I are having fun reading our lines from a segment of Noël Coward’s play Private Lives, which will be presented as one of three reader’s theatre events during Leelanau Uncaged on September 28. In this comedy we play wealthy people (Amanda and Elyot) who could buy anything we want. I am creating my character and pretending to have oodles of money. And the timeless message is money can’t buy peace, love, understanding, or happiness.

Thank you for reading Families First Monthly.

Laura Lee Kalchik