RICHFIELD, Idaho — After-school programs can help kids with school, provide intellectual stimulation, and be a safe place until parents come home from work. In rural Idaho, the options for childcare are often slim, and activities for children can be even slimmer.
Lincoln County has a small spattering of tiny towns strung together with two-lane roads. There's a lot of open space here.
People tend to work long hours, usually in ranching, farming, or some form of agriculture. Lots of others make the long trip to places like Jerome, Twin Falls, or Burley for work.
For local kids, going home after school could mean being alone for several hours.
That's where the Lincoln County Youth Center in Richfield comes in.
The building was a cacophony of noise at a recent parent's night and open house as kids darted around the room, flitting from one activity station to another.
Starks has five kids who use the center. She said that her youngest loves to color, the two girls in the middle love crafting, and her boy is fixated on anything involving construction.
The youth center is a place where they can do it all.
"They all get to hang out here together, but at the same time have their own separate interests acknowledged and then it's a lot easier to do that here than to try to deviate at home,” Starks told Idaho News 6.
Co-founder Rebecca Wood said that she’s seen the result of kids not being kept engaged outside of school all too often, from her years of working in the cafeteria at the Richfield School.
"I saw that we just were so desperate for something for the kids to do after school, we really had nothing around here.,” Wood told Idaho News 6. “If you weren't doing sports or you weren't out working on the ranch you were at loose ends, and that ends up getting kids in trouble."
Wood, along with co-founder Karma Fitzgerald-Metzler, shared a vision of a place where kids could get the extra activities and scholastic support they needed, as well as a full meal, while they waited for parents to come home.
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After many months of planning, grant-writing, and passion for their vision, the group landed a Department of Education grant. The center was able to buy an empty church and start the program.
Making learning fun was one of the grant requirements.
“Teach them Stem, science math engineering, teach them art, teach them cooking, teach them everything you can but pretend it’s a game and wrap it all up in fun,” Wood said, recalling the advice of the funding agency. “So that’s what we do here.”
To serve a wider range of kids than just Richfield, the center runs a fleet of buses that travel to Dietrich and Shoshone to pick up kids. One driver said he makes the loop five times a day.
Behind the main building is a garden area, complete with a greenhouse and a red barn-style shed. It's part of the garden center, so the kids actually get involved in growing their own food. It helps teach about agriculture and Lincoln County’s rural landscape. It also gives them a little advantage if they decide to get into FFA or 4H.
Site manager Heather Huffman said every day she greets the kids when they come in with high-fives, fist-bumps, or hugs.
"I love to just watch the children grow. We’ve seen huge improvements with kids," Huffman told Idaho News 6. "It's just knowing that they enjoy coming here, they like to come here, and we're making a difference in their life."
You can find out more about the Lincoln County Youth Center through their website, lincolncountyyouthcenter.com
