For two weeks, 10-year-old Akeen Britten and his five brothers have had more than a dozen new playmates at the Our Daily Bread Hospitality Soup Kitchen.

Mark Tolliver (right) from Hughes Center plays Uno with Ricco Jackson, 9; Armon Britten, 8; and Chris Jackson, 10, at Our Daily Bread Hospitality Soup Kitchen in Over-the-Rhine. (Brandi Stafford photo) | ZOOM |

        The “playmates” were among 35 students who volunteered at the kitchen's Kids Cafe in Over-the-Rhine as well as other social service agencies. The program, sponsored by the Manuel D. and Rhoda Mayerson Foundation, promotes service-oriented learning and youth leadership. This is the volunteer program's second year.

        Today concludes a week of volunteering for 19 students from Hughes Center in University Heights, Mount Notre Dame High School in Reading and Purcell Marian High School in Walnut Hills.

        But for many of the teens, this week is just the beginning of their volunteer work.

        “A lot of people have been talking about coming back next week,” said Sally Sheehan, a junior at Mount Notre Dame. “I definitely am.”

        The same feelings rang true for Timothy Smith, a 16-year-old junior at Hughes. He participated in the program last year and has since volunteered at many sites.

        He has developed strong bonds with several children at the Peaslee Neighborhood Center in Over-the-Rhine, one of the places the students volunteered this week.

        “They come to me like an older brother,” the 16-year-old Evanston resident said.

        In the first week of the program, students from Clark Montessori, Ross and Withrow participated.

        The foundation pays nearly $20,000 to cover the two-week program's costs, including food, transportation and lodging at Hebrew Union College, said Jeff Seibert, the foundation's grants officer. Students are given a $100 stipend for participating.

        But the students said it was the opportunity to volunteer that interested them.

        “This is the highlight of my summer,” Sally said this week as she played with a group of young children at the Kids Cafe. “If they want a shoulder to lean on, we're here. But mainly we're here to be kids with them.”
       

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