BETHEL, Ohio — A series of summer picnics in Bethel, Ohio is rebuilding after two years of the Covid crisis.  They’re seeing more people each week, according to Scott Conley, executive director of Empower Youth, the nonprofit that puts on the picnics.

What You Need To Know

  • Empower Youth is the nonprofit that puts on the picnics

  • In 2019, the average number of picnic attendees would be about 600 people 

  • The final picnic is on Aug. 3

  • The first week there were a little more than 200 people

Conley and his late wife, Lori, started the organization and the picnics in 2015. By 2019, they were averaging about 600 people a week, Conley said.

This year, they’re hoping to come close to those numbers by the time the weekly Wednesday picnics in Burke Park end on Aug. 3. The first week, they welcomed back a little more than 200 people, according to Conley.

He and his wife started the picnics to fill a growing need they saw developing in their community.

“We were really seeing a community declining,” Conley said. “These kids didn’t have any hope - they didn’t have any dreams,” he said. The Conleys spent their own money to start the organization that’s now a 501-C3 nonprofit.

“It’s just to give these kids a way out of poverty and to give them hope and to show them different options,” Conley said. “It’s really cool bringing the poor, the middle class, and the wealthy together.”

Conley and his team couldn’t pull off the picnics without lots of volunteers and help from local businesses.

“Every week, we have a different sponsor and they bring their own volunteers,” said Amber Hansel, picnic organizer. “We also call upon Empower Youth volunteers and interns and lots of other groups across the area,” she said.

“We have everybody from the Girl Scouts, the Boy Scouts, church groups, businesses, so everybody comes together to serve our community,” Conley said.

Along with free picnic-style entrees like hot dogs and hamburgers, they serve up homemade desserts and ice balls along with lemonade and iced tea.  

Kids also get free tickets for a raffle of toys and other prizes.

The nearby stage in the park always features entertainment, like the Christian band Soul Scape. Illusionist Jake Lindsey has entertained the families and later in the summer, they’re planning to welcome the Clermont Philharmonic Orchestra, said Hansel.

“Every week, we have a different sponsor and they bring their own volunteers,” said Amber Hansel, picnic organizer.  “We also call upon Empower Youth volunteers and interns and lots of other groups across the area."

Conley said Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, church groups and businesses all come to get involved to serve the community. 

Along with free picnic-style entrees like hot dogs and hamburgers, they serve up homemade desserts and ice balls along with lemonade and iced tea.  

Kids also get free tickets for a raffle of toys and other prizes.

“It’s so great to see the kids come out here. They’re excited and they want to be a part of it,” Hansel said. “They want to come back here every week. One kid rides his bike here every week for the whole summer and has for like the last three summers.”

Some kids end up becoming volunteers and eventually paid interns.

“They are working to bring youth up out of poverty and make sure we have a good future so we can help better our community,” said Brooke Donley, a recent graduate of New Richmond High School. She is one intern collecting a paycheck courtesy of The Summer Youth Employment Program, overseen by the Clermont County Department of Job and Family Services.

Donley’s heads to Berea College on a full scholarship in the Fall, where she plans to major in English and become a high school teacher.

“I think my work with Empower Youth definitely helped my application,” Donley said. “Without this organization over the past two years, I would not have logged more than 300 hours of community service. So that probably helped a lot,” she said.

Not to mention all the help she and the others here have given to their community.  Her boss, Scott Conley, says the picnics are more important than ever.

“With the way the economy’s going and the way things are going in this world, to have this happy time for the kids in the summertime, to me that’s why I do it,” Conley said.

The picnics run from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. each Wednesday in Bethel’s Burke Park until Aug. 3.