Moorestown Rec Center Offers More Than Rec

For many of the kids who frequent the , it’s like a second home.

Theresa Miller, the township’s parks and recreation director, said the center often gets between 40 to 50 kids coming in after school to play basketball or hang out—70 or more sometimes on the weekends—and aside from wanting to have fun, they have one other thing on their mind when they get there: food.

Miller said she would listen to the boys' conversations, and they often revolved around what they could get to eat, asking each other if they had money to buy snacks.

“You notice when these kids come in, they’re hungry,” she said. “Most kids are ... As a mother of three, I do understand boys, and especially teenage boys, and how they eat."

So the rec center, in partnership with several local churches through the Moorestown Ministerium, has been providing snacks for the kids daily. The churches donate the food—mostly prepackaged snacks, like granola bars, or fruit—and the rec center staff put it out for the kids as they arrive.

“We told (the churches) we would like very nutritional snacks, bottled water only,” said Miller. “We’ve taken all the soda out of the vending machines.”

She said the kids have enthusiastically shown their appreciation for the snack buffet—by devouring as much food as they can. When there are leftovers, she said, the staff gives it out on the weekends.  

Lately, Miller said, the rec center has been getting local businesses to donate pizzas one Friday a month for impromptu pizza parties.

It’s all in the spirit of making the children as comfortable as possible when they're at the center, said recreation supervisor Dan MacDougall. “That’s their home, in a lot of cases.”

“These kids just want to be with us,” said Miller. "They get off the bus and come right to the rec center instead of going home."

Miller said the following churches donate food: , , , , , and .

Of course, feeding the mind is as important as feeding the body, so beginning Jan. 3 the recreation center will provide homework help for students in grades 5-12 from 3:30-5:30 p.m. Tuesdays. If the program takes off, Miller said they'll add a second day of tutoring.

The parks and recreation department is still looking for volunteers to tutor, so if you're interested, contact them at 856-914-3093.

In an effort to further send the message that the recreation center is not just for athletics, the department will also begin holding its chess and strategic games program—which it currently holds on Saturdays at the —at 4:15 p.m. Tuesdays on the third floor of the center. 

Miller said the program is at present open to grades 1-3, but could be expanded to all ages if there's enough interest. 

"We're trying to serve everyone," she said.