DANVILLE — Next time having lunch outside sounds like a good idea, head over to the Center for Children’s Services for the annual Café on the Lawn, which starts Tuesday.

Grill specials, salads and smoked meats are just a few of the dishes offered by students in the GRADS/GED program.

The money they raise will go toward filling a recent funding void.

The agency found out it will receive $60,000 less than in the past, so the students must work even harder on their businesses to make up the difference, said Mimi Barnes, director of youth and family support programs.

“I can’t payroll as many kids as I did before. That’s a real loss to us,” she said.

The café is one of several businesses students operate to learn customer service, math and other skills they can use at future jobs.

Testimonial

Danville resident Loretta Etchison, 21, appreciates the real-world training she’s received through the program. She graduated from the program, but is returning to work at the café for her third year.

“I’ve learned to get along with people a lot more and to be more patient,” she said.

Etchison received her food sanitation license through the program and was able to use it at another job.

“It helps give some skills for when you go out and get a real job,” she said, adding working at the café is a real job, but a temporary one.

Big goals

Barnes would like to operate the café year round if she can find a suitable property and raise enough money.

“That project may get delayed because we have to earn our own keep, but that’s good for us,” she said.

Barnes believes the situation teaches the students the importance of making their own way, which they are doing successfully. She also wants them to expand the work they do.

They currently do catering, custom flower design and landscaping, and run a Christmas bazaar, which they plan to do again this year.

“I’d like them to come up with an e-commerce business and a manufacturing and distribution business,” she added.

Danville High School junior Michael Shutes, 16, works for the landscaping and café businesses. He learned a lot about the work required to beautify lawns.

“It makes you feel pretty good when you hear people talking about it,” he said.

New doings

For the first time this year, the program is participating in the 2006 University of Illinois Extension, Vermilion County unit, Master Gardeners’ Walk from noon to 5 p.m. Sunday, where they will open the café also.

The students usually don’t do the landscaping until later in the summer and have been working hard to put together the gardens and set up for the café.

“We’re having kids who are participating in a fundraiser for another organization,” Barnes said, explaining that teaches them the importance of civic responsibility and volunteerism.

“They are people who are caring and supporting their community.”

Master Gardener Barbara Fink, who also serves on the center’s board, sees working with the Master Gardeners as a way for the students to understand the concept of gardening and landscaping.

“For young children, we want the garden to be multisensory,” she said.

The students and gardeners are working on a garden where young children can play safely among the plants and be able to feel, touch and smell them. Fink also knows the project isn’t just about the older students developing skills.

“When you’re here, you have to work,” Fink said. “It’s a matter of developing work ethic.”



Coming up

Café on the Lawn runs weekdays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday through July 28 on the front lawn of the Center for Children’s Services, 702 N. Logan Ave. To place an order for pick-up, call 497-4130.

Daily specials include hot-off-the-grill on Tuesdays, slow and smoked on Wednesdays, salads on Thursdays and Jamaican jerk on Fridays. The café also offers a heart-healthy meal and hamburgers, veggie burgers and hot dogs every day.

A special event, Dinner on the Islands, will be 5-8 p.m. July 21 with live entertainment.