Jon leads participants on a Hobbit adventure.
Jon Landers of Belfast has been volunteering at the Game Loft for about a year and in October he helped children in grades 3-6 with a hobbit adventure. He enjoyed being outside with the youngsters, running around and assisting them to complete the quests they were presented with. What he didn’t know was that he was helping those participants meet the goals of Let’s Go! Waldo 5-2-1-0.
That changed when Jon attended a celebration dinner Let’s Go! Waldo was having at the Waldo County Technical Center. At that dinner, as he described the hobbit adventure, he realized he had been helping the children get at least 1 hour of physical exercise, limiting their recreational screen time to less than 2 hours, keeping them from drinking sugary drinks and helping them get toward the goal of 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day.
Jon says he had heard of the 5-2-1-0 slogan before; he and the participants were doing what they should be doing; and the principles are something he agrees with, but he hadn’t really thought of the hobbit adventure in that way.
Jon enjoyed the vegetarian meal at the 5-2-1-0 celebration. Seated across from him are the founders and facilitators of the Game Loft, Ray and Patricia Estabrook.
He also didn’t know when he agreed to go to the dinner with Ray and Pat Estabrook, the creators and facilitators for the Game Loft, that the food was going to be all vegetarian. But the high school freshman says the meal was delicious and he asked for the recipes so he could duplicate the meals at home. Among the dishes was roasted spaghetti squash, flavored with garlic, olive oil and parmesan cheese; roasted beets and carrots with cardamom and pepper; and maple poached pear with spiced syrup reduction.
The experience has gotten Jon excited about possibly attending the Tech Center in the culinary program. He’s also pleased to know that without really intending to, the children who attended the hobbit adventure were working toward developing healthier habits.
The fact that Game Loft programs met the goals of 5-2-1-0 isn’t really surprising when you consider their mission is to provide “a safe, supervised location for local youth to play games with friends, engage with the community, and eat a healthy meal.” In fact, the Game Loft is a registered Let’s Go! Waldo out of school site.
Receiving awards at the dinner for their work with Let’s Go! were:
• Child care: gold level–Waldo CAP Early Head Start in Unity, Belfast Area Children’s Center, Grammie’s Child Care, Jim & Bon’s Daycare, First Steps, Cindy’s Daycare; silver level–Broadreach Services, Walker Pre-K
• Schools: silver level—Mt. View Elementary, Mt. View High School, Monroe Elementary, Troy Elementary, Walker Elementary, Captain Albert Stevens School, Searsport Elementary; bronze level—Islesboro Central School, Cornerspring Montessori, Ames Elementary, Kermit Nickerson Elementary
• Out of School: gold level—Ames/Weymouth 21st Century program, Searsport Elementary 21st Century program, Searsport Middle School 21st Century program, East Belfast 21st Century program, Captain Albert Stevens 21st Century program
• Healthcare sites of distinction: Belfast Pediatrics, Belfast Natural Medicine, Donald Walker Health Center, Lincolnville Regional Health Center, Searsport Health Center, Stockton Springs Regional Health Center, Arthur Jewell Health Center, Waldo County Medical Partners Family Medicine and Belfast Family Practice.