Daxon: Breans gather for Rise Against Hunger

On May 4, food-packaging assembly lines of 65 volunteers were in high gear at the Brea-Yorba Linda-Placentia Boy & Girls Club in Brea.

We were packaging dry ingredients for Rise Against Hunger food packs that will be go by cargo ship to hungry people in Southeast Asia. Our goal was to fill 10,000 packages from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. We packed 10,200 in two hours.

The event was sponsored and organized by the Brea Rotary, who sponsored it for five years prior to 2016. Along with Rotarians, there were Boy Scouts, Girls Scouts, some of us Soroptimists of Brea/La Habra, and several other people.

“As president this year, it was something I wanted to bring back,” Brea Rotary President Sara Barnes-Ramos said, adding that the Rotary does a lot in Brea and the surrounding area, but also want to help people in Third World countries.

Each food pack contained a packet of vitamins, a cup of soy, a heaping tablespoon of hydrated vegetables and a cup of white rice. When those ingredients are cooked in 1.5 liters of water it makes six meals. We were told the vitamins are included because the people getting the packets often haven’t eaten for many days. It is hard to imagine going days without a morsel of food.

Besides supplying food to Third World folks, Rise Against Hunger works with the locals, helping them plant and grow crops and fruit trees and become self-sufficient with good food to eat.

In a Rise Against Hunger video, I saw how a school fed their students with the food from the food packs, and with help from Rise Against Hunger volunteers, they learned to grow vegetables they now feed to the students at school and send some home to their families.

According to Barnes-Ramos, Brea Rotary plans to continue sponsoring Rise Against Hunger events. I know my fellow Soroptimists will be there too, helping to fill the bags.

Something else to fill is the free time the kids will have in a couple of weeks when school is out for summer break. Here are a few ideas.

How about Summer Camp at the Boys & Girls Club? It is located at 502 Sievers Ave., next to the Brea Senior Center.

The summer camp runs 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays from June 3 to Aug. 9, and is for kids age 5 to tweens and teens. Be ready for crafts, sports, brain gain, game room activities, Fun Fridays and much more.

Summer camp prices are $150 week or $40 daily for K and 1st graders; $125 week or $55 day for Grade 2 and up. And here’s the best deal: kids 13 and up are free. That’s the best deal for a summer camp I’ve seen.

Do you have budding or want-to-be junior golfers in the family? Then the Junior Summer Camps at Birch Hills Golf Course is for them. The camp runs 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, and is open to kids ages 5 to 14.

The next Tiger Woods will learn all about a full swing, chipping, bunker play, golf rules, golf etiquette and much more while gaining golf skills and having fun. And lunch is included. Classes are taught by Adam Farino, a member of the PGA of America, who has taught golf for many years. Cost is $299 and your budding Tiger is worth it.

And maybe they will make a hole-in-one like Bill Vukeich recently did at Birch Hill.

Contact Farino at adamfarinooc@gmail.com for more information or to sign up your junior golfer.

There is also summer day camp at the Brea Community Center, but as of a week ago the only week not yet filled is July 1-7. Interested? Call 714-990-7100.

Terri Daxon is a freelance writer and the owner of Daxon Marketing Communications. She gives her perspective on Brea issues twice a month. Contact her at  daxoncomm@gmail.com.