The organization has been giving back to the community in numerous ways for two decades.
The Friends Enrichment Program (FEP) of Moorestown is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. Created in the spring of 2017, it has since issued enrichment scholarships to 390 underserved, financially disadvantaged Moorestown children, including many who received scholarships year after year. To date, scholarship costs have totaled $209, 960.
At no cost to their parents, FEP kids attend overnight or day camp for periods extending from one week to five weeks. They may also enroll in sports clinics or art classes, take music lessons or engage in other age-appropriate life-enhancing activities.
FEP also maintains a school year program of Sunday afternoon program activities. Run by volunteers, this program is open to all FEP scholarship recipients and other school-age young people regardless of their parents’ income. Participating children mingle socially in a safe environment and engage in various activities.
On Sunday, Jan. 22, FEP talked about plants and their vital importance to our communities. Children were shown a few plants with interesting characteristics, and were taught how to grow new plants from cuttings of existing plants. They were also shown young lemon plants that grew from seeds planted two months ago. As a follow-up, they planted lemon seeds in small individual pots. It will be their responsibility to water their seeds and hopefully the plants that will grow from them.
This year, our focus is on the environment and on the human beings that are an integral part of the earth’s environment. To help protect the environment they love, our children will write to Congressman Thomas MacArthur, urging him to support and promote legislative measures aimed at limiting the impact of climate change. They will be encouraged to produce accompanying artwork. Our plans are to introduce the letter-writing project on Sunday, Jan. 29.
At the same session, we will also work on our plans for our annual Music and Dance Medley, a young people’s springtime performance for the benefit of the FEP scholarship fund. Celebrating our diversity is our theme for this year’s medley.
FEP meets every Sunday afternoon, from 3 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., in the Moorestown Friends Meetinghouse, on the grounds of Moorestown Friends School, located at 118 East Main Street. For more information, call FEP chairperson Monique Begg at (856) 235–3963.
