The Childhood League Center

Center staff had an awesome time at yesterday's Columbus Clippers game! Thank you to the Franklin County Board of Commissioners for setting staff up with a suite. It was a beautiful day for baseball, and as a bonus, staff surprised Ginger with a happy retirement message for the whole stadium to see!

Tomorrow, Eva will graduate from preschool with 25 of her classmates, 13 of whom came to The Center with developmental delays. The generosity of people like you has helped every one of them access the high quality interventions and education they deserve, setting them up for success in the classroom and in life. Check out Eva's story and give today to propel the next class of Center graduates to UNSTOPPABLE futures!

Eva's story: https://childhoodleague.org/annual-fundraising-campaign/ -eva
Donate: https://childhoodleague.org/donate/

The last week of the school year kicks off with WATER DAY! Staff set up a bunch of fun water games and activities, and the kids are having the time of their lives!

Touch a Truck was a hit! We had a great turnout at The Center yesterday evening, where the kids got to check out some very cool vehicles including a Columbus City School bus, a Bexley Police car, a Ghostbusters car, and more! And the Sunny 95 - Columbus, OH Treat Truck was there with much needed snacks. Thank you to our Families Connecting group for putting it together, The League for volunteering, and all the participating organizations who made it possible!

With just one week left in the school year, we amped up the fun today! Every House opened their doors at the same time so our kids could explore any room and activities they wanted with their friends from every class. There was even a dance party in the hallway! And a special thank you to our Board members, who played with and read to the kids!

Ms. Kris is a beloved member of our staff, and we wanted to show our appreciation with a retirement party! Kris has been at The Center for more than a decade, and at the end of the school year she'll start an exciting new chapter in her life. As a Family Services Specialist, Kris is the first point of contact for Preschool families and is a resource for many, especially those who may need ongoing support. She also leads Maker Monday, which is a hit with our kids every year. She's so great at coming up with fun, interesting, and collaborative art projects for our kids to exercise their creativity. She's relentlessly positive and always helpful. We wanted to get her retirement started off right by gifting her a big basket of items that she can create art with. Let's hear it for Kris!

We were honored to host the Ohio Legislative Developmental Disabilities Caucus at The Center this week! The co-chairs (Bill DeMora for Ohio, State Senator George Lang, Crystal Lett, and Mike Odioso for Ohio) are a bipartisan group, united behind issues impacting services for people with developmental delays and disabilities in Ohio. This event gave those legislators a chance to hear from stakeholders and providers while discussing the sustainability of funding and future opportunities for increased funding from the state of Ohio. In addition to those legislators, Kara Wente, the Director of the Ohio Department of Children and Youth, spoke about the growth of early intervention in Ohio and the future of the Help Me Grow Program. Discussions like these are critical for shaping what's to come to help children with developmental delays and disabilities in our state, and we are grateful to be at the forefront of those discussions.

It's an art party at The Center! The last Maker Monday of the school year means tons of art stations set up outside for our kids to explore. They got to use chalk, paint, branches, pine cones, and even toilet paper to create some of their coolest projects yet. Ms. Kris knows how to keep their creative juices flowing!

Thank you so much to our Families Connecting group for making last week extraordinary for our staff! They put on a Staff Appreciation Week, with something special every day for the staff to enjoy. That included a taco bar lunch, fresh flowers, self care kits, a hydration station and a coffee bar. We are very fortunate to have such an incredible group of parents behind us. You're the best!