Moorestown Friends Meeting Gives Hand Up, Not Handout, to Kids in Need

In troubling economic times like these, the opportunities offered by the Friends Enrichment Program (FEP) of are needed more than ever.

And according to Monique Begg, the chairperson and founder of the FEP, more families and children availed themselves of those opportunities this year than ever before.

The program enrolled 34 financially underprivileged Moorestown children in summer camps this year, compared to 21 in 2010, and the total number of summer camp weeks provided by the FEP jumped from 30 in 2010 to 76 in 2011, according to a release from the Moorestown Friends Meeting.

“The economy is not good,” said Begg, but the organization continues to thrive because, “Over time you become better known and our base of support has increased … We have more supporters than we used to have.”

She described the FEP as a “social and peace endeavor” that, aside from putting underprivileged kids into summer camps, also provides an array of educational and developmental activities during its winter program. Begg said this past winter the children participated in cooking classes, learned about the life cycles of monarch butterflies and built robots.

“Our kids are recognized and encouraged to become young leaders,” she said.

A 12-year-old girl who attended summer camp at Camp Haluwasa in Hammonton described her experience in a thank-you note to the Moorestown Friends Meeting.

“I’m a little different now that I came back from (camp),” she wrote. She said the camp helped her “get things off my chest” and made her want to contribute more time to the community.

Another letter, from a 9-year-old boy who participated in the township’s recreation programs and attended Camp Worth through FEP wrote, “Thank you for everything you’re doing for my family. Thanks for sending me, my brother and my sisters to camp … We pray you live long and have good health.”

Begg said they receive letters like this every year from children they’ve helped.

The FEP makes it possible for the children to attend summer camps—as well as enroll in arts classes or sports clinics, take private music lessons or participate in athletic activities—by providing scholarships funded through community contributions.

According to the release, FEP has issued scholarships to more than 250 children since its creation in 1997. They also arrange for food donations to families in need.

For more information about FEP, call the Moorestown Friends Meeting office at 856-235-1561 or Begg at 856-235-3963.