Children’s Programs

Children are the unintended victims of poverty. At Circle, we offer several programs that directly benefit the children of our clients.


Summer Opportunities

For the children of our clients, the cost of summer camp is often too high for their parents who are struggling to pay for basic needs like groceries and utility bills.

Circle changes that scenario by offering scholarships to camp through the Summer Camp Opportunities program. Day or sleep-away camps, sports teams, swimming or music lessons – the child can choose the camp or enrichment of his or her choice, and Circle will help make it happen.

You can help give a child the gift of memories by clicking here to donate to the camper program. Be sure to mark CAMPERSHIP in the tribute name section. Donations can also be mailed to 112 St. Louis Avenue, Valley Park, MO 63088, Attn: Campership Program.  All donations are tax deductible.


Back To School

Children who start the school year with adequate school supplies are children ready to learn with confidence. Our annual Back-To-School initiative helps equip the children of our client families with fresh, new supplies.

To provide families with the best opportunity to choose exactly what each child – kindergarten through college – needs, Circle provides families a generous gift card for each child. We first began distributing gifts cards (instead of holding a traditional large supply distribution event) because of the pandemic. Since then, client families report that the gift cards allow them to better select exactly what their children need for school.

In 2021, 497 young people got a gift card to equip them to learn and succeed. Many thanks to our generous donors who supported the purchase of gift cards!


Birthday Club

Circle of Concern spreads birthday joy for all client families with children under 12 years of age. Each child receives personally-selected gifts, along with a birthday bag containing a cake mix, icing and party supplies.


Kid Bags

Children of our clients may qualify for free or reduced breakfast and/or lunch programs at their schools during the school year. During the summer, those meal programs come to an end. To ensure these children have enough to eat, Circle helps with Summer Kid Food gift cards. Since the start of the pandemic, we transitioned from extra bags of kid-friendly food to summer gift cards to families with school age children to purchase foods to bridge the summer hunger gap.

Similarly, the Unaccompanied Youth program provides food to high school students who are unable to live at home, so they stay with friends or extended family. These young people often refuse to eat their host’s food to avoid being a burden, so Circle provides supplies to nourish the student.