The only thing better than a delicious four course meal paired with unique Ohio wines is helping the worthy cause of Flying House Farms, a camp for seriously ill children, in the process.
Richland County Farm Bureau, in conjunction with Morrow and Delaware County Farm Bureaus is hosting an evening of locally sourced, seasonally-inspired dining to benefit Flying Horse Farms.
“It’s a remarkable organization; they’ve been around about three years,” said Tim Hicks, Organizational Director for the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation (OFBF), “They provide camp experience for kids with serious illness, from sickle cell anemia, to cancer, to heart disease, where they are able to come in, have an experience at camp, and have an opportunity to be just kids. They are not a ‘sick kid’, they are just a kid.”
Children attend the camp at no charge.
Located on over 200 acres just outside of Mount Gilead, the camp was founded by David and Jenni Belford, of Columbus.
“After being blessed with four healthy children, Jenni and David wanted to give back to the community and help kids and their families with serious medical conditions,” said Regan Walsh, Director of Marketing and Communications at Flying Horse Farms. “They knew they wanted to build a camp and started researching different camps across the country.”
The Belfords discovered the SeriousFun Children’s Network, a community of individually financed camps and programs founded by Paul Newman.
“Paul Newman actually came out to our camp before we broke ground and gave us his blessing to try to become one of the network camps,” said Walsh.
“The accreditation process to become a member camp takes several years,” noted Walsh. “There are over 200 points of criteria you must meet to be considered to join the network. Requirements ranging from camp program offerings to Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance and first rate medical facilities. Flying Horse Farms is the first camp in the Midwest to become a member of the SeriousFun Children’s Network.”
Hicks said that Flying Horse Farms reached out to the Ohio Farm Bureau when building a Children’s Garden.
“They were going to integrate agricultural education components with the kids, kind of teaching kids where their food comes from,” said Hicks.
Joe Motter, chef and co-owner of Malabar Farm Restaurant, will prepare the evening’s fare. Motter is donating his time for the event and has recruited other kitchen and serving volunteers.
“The Morrow County Farm Bureau is going to be pulling in Future Farmers of America members, 4-H advisors, local farmers in the area that just want to participate and help make it a good event,” noted Hicks, “All volunteers, doing good things, helping Flying Horse Farms.”
“The idea for this event is to provide continuing operation funds for the camp and the Children’s Garden,” added Hicks.
The event will be held Saturday, April 5, from 5 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the dining hall of Flying Horse Farms, 5260 Ohio 95, Mt. Gilead, OH. Guests will be invited to participate in camp tours. The cost is $75 per person and reservations should be made by March 21 to Morrow County Farm Bureau at 419-747-7488.
Caregivers that have children with serious illnesses that would like to attend the camp may find more information at http://flyinghorsefarms.org/camp/how-to-enroll/ or by contacting camper recruiter, Olivia Miller at olivia@flyinghorsefarms.org or 419-751-7077
Those interested in volunteering at Flying Horse Farms may apply online at http://flyinghorsefarms.org/get-involved/volunteer-opportunities/
Donation and sponsorship information is also available at the website.
