It sounds like ROC Eastman has found a keeper with the activity kits that are being used for bringing recreational opportunities to local families.

Steph McLean is the development coordinator for Recreation Opportunities for Children (ROC) in the Eastman region. She says their activity kits started up in the summer of 2020. That is when traditional forms of recreation were mostly closed due to the pandemic.

“We still wanted to support our families,” she says.

So, they took some time to think creatively, and that is how the activity kits started. There were a few grants that came through and allowed ROC Eastman to spend a bit of money to create the kits.

“What it did, was provide all of our kiddos and other kiddos from within the region with choices of things that they could do at home with their families, stuff that still falls into the category of recreation but maybe isn’t a team sport,” McLean explains.

>The activity kits for last winter included things like ice fishing equipment. This winter, the kits include equipment rentals and support for cross country skiing, snowshoeing, along with indoor activities such as puzzles, books, a paint night at home and a cooking class at home.

McLean believes these activity kits will continue, due to the tremendous amount of positive feedback.

“There’s so much positive that’s come from it, that every time we finish a round, we’re like, ‘okay, so what’s the next one?’ And we’re realizing there’s some kiddos that have never really engaged in traditional recreation where their siblings might,” she says. “You know, their siblings have found their thing. And over the last two years, they found their thing and maybe it isn’t with a team, maybe it’s not instructor led. Maybe it is that they have fallen in love with puzzling and that’s something that they’ve now connected with their sibling and parents with, that they wouldn’t have done before.”