In the United States, around 25% of children grow up in poverty. However, in the 7th Street and 15th Avenue neighborhoods of Rockford, that number is about 82%, according to neighborhoodscout.
Since 1999, Rock House Kids has aimed to provide a safe and nurturing environment to the inner-city kids of Rockford.
Among the kids at RHK, around 95% of them fall below the poverty line, according to RHK Marketing Coordinator Melanie Derr.
“Right now, we have about 250 kids come in every week,” Deanna “Dee” Lacny, the Executive Director of RHK, said. “Out of those 250, around 50 are teenagers.”
Since January, RHK has served over 6000 hot meals. In addition to food, the organization also sends the kids home with other necessities like shampoo, conditioner, toothbrushes, toothpaste, jackets and gloves.
Moving into the holiday season, the organization has a lot planned for its kids.
Every year, RHK hosts Thanksgiving dinners for the kids and teenagers to enjoy.
RHK is closed on Thanksgiving due to the schools being closed; however, they still plan an earlier Thanksgiving celebration. Every year, the Kiwanis Club provides two Thanksgiving dinners. There’s one for the kids and one for the teenagers.
“They have specialty Thanksgiving placemats made up, and they decorate the cafeteria for Thanksgiving,” Melanie Derr, Marketing Coordinator for RHK, said. “They (the kids) get really excited.”
This year, the dinners took place on Nov. 16 and 17. The dinners consisted of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, rolls and cupcakes.
After Thanksgiving, the organization immediately moves into the Christmas season.
To prepare for Christmas, volunteers begin to set up Christmas decorations, and the teenagers are sent to Williams Tree Farm to find a tree.
The teenagers described how they are excited to bring back a tree to the building because of how fun it is.
Also, while the teenagers decorate the tree, people from Kegel’s Bicycle Store ride bikes to deliver everything the store collected in their RHK collection drive.
“They have this whole parade of bicycles to deliver all the stuff they collected,” Derr said. “They then order pizza for the kids that came back with the Christmas tree, and so they kind of have a Christmas Party Together.”
Moving closer to Christmas, on the Saturday before Christmas, the organization wraps all of the gifts they have for the kids.
“Starting at 8 in the morning, we literally wrap hundreds of presents,” Derr said. “They always make stockings for the kids too.”
Three days later, the most exciting day that many kids are waiting for takes place on the Monday before Christmas.
“When the kids come in Monday night, they will have dinner as usual, and they will have different Christmas games,” Derr said. “Before they leave, the very last thing they all do is get their gifts, and they all get to open them up at the same time. It’s wrapping paper everywhere.
The organization wishes to send the kids home with as many good memories as possible, and with the opening of gifts on the Monday before Christmas, that marks the end of the year at RHK.
“We try to really establish some traditions for the kids because some don’t necessarily have traditions at home,” Derr said.
If interested in volunteering, donating, or learning more about Rock House Kids:
Visit their website at: rockhousekids.org or call them at: 815-962-5067.
