First Lady Maria Lee visits Milan for ‘TN Kids Serve Summer Challenge’

MILAN, Tenn. — First Lady Maria Lee kicks off the “Tennessee Kids Serve Summer Challenge” at a West Tennessee senior center.

The first lady’s initiative, Tennessee Serves, launches the seventh annual Tennessee Kids Serve Summer Challenge Tuesday in Milan at the City of Milan Senior Citizens Center.

Students and volunteers joined First Lady Lee to spend time with seniors through various service activities.

“We’re just kicking off the summer with the kids that are already registered for our summer challenge to serve the seniors here with giving out lunches, giving out hope notes to other seniors, and getting a pair of shoes for the seniors that will help benefit them in a lot of ways,” said First Lady Lee.

The event is the first in a series of three kickoff events–one in each grand division–for Tennessee families participating in the Tennessee Kids Serve Summer Challenge.

They’ve had over 3,000 kids participate in their Summer Serve Challenge since the start of the program, and it grows each year.

“Our goal is to really get kids at a young age involved in serving others. We get them thinking about people around them in their communities that they might be able to reach out to, help, or care for in some way,” said First Lady Lee.

They hope to instill in kids a love of service that will become a virtue and positive habit in their life.

“We’ve had a good time, we really have. We love to get together and eat, and do the fun things you know. We had a good time with the coloring, that was good. I like to color so we enjoyed it, and then the nice shoes that we got, so we appreciate that,” said Sherry Epperson, senior citizen guest.

Each month, the summer program has a focus on who it serves. The entire month of June is serving seniors.

The Tennessee Kids Serve Summer Challenge lasts from June until August 1.

“I think it’s good to have children involved with older people and for them to be interactive with them. We try to do that at church some, so I think it’s great for them,” said Epperson.

Wednesday, the Summer Serve Program visits East Tennessee and Monday it will move to Middle Tennessee.

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