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| BETTER BEGINNINGS PENNY PATTER |
August 27, 2004
| Joy sometimes behaves like a hybrid of bubbles and a magic bouncing ball. This past | week, the air was full of them. It started, with |
| When I poked my head in the door of
"Classroom Heart Friends", my attention was drawn to one child
who was sitting alone at a table, working industriously in a workbook,
head bent over his work, hand gripping one of those big pencils.
He had chosen the workbook as a free choice activity. Our friend, Ondina Jeffers, (a retired Kindergarten teacher, who is kind of like a walking talking guardian angel for "our kids") had donated it, along with many other educational materials. When he saw me, he called out,, "Miss Bettie, you gotta see this!". He jumped up and brought his workbook to me. His eyes shone and he was beaming with the pride of accomplishment. He had completed the first page, printing the first letter of the alphabet. By the end of the page, his printing was just perfect. Then he turned the page, and lo and behold, a beautiful page of "B's". He had advanced onward to the "C's" and had all the signs of working his way right through the book. |
What was so special was that he had found the
right material for the right moment, for his particular learning style and
stage of development and was growing and learning right in front of our
eyes. What made it particularly special to me was that he KNEW that I
would enjoy and share his joy in his accomplishment. That means a lot to
me. Many joyful such moments reveal why I keep coming back to this place,
day after day, week after week, year after year, decade after decade.
Ondina deserves to share this moment too. I hope she reads this. All of
our supporters, volunteers, donors and advocates also have a part of this
precious moment. Without you, the day would not have happened. The doors
would have closed on Better Beginnings' last day a long time ago. The
funding crisis is real: another three of our sister centers closed this
summer, lacking adequate funds to stay open.
The Joy bubble-ball kept growing and bouncing: |
| Our friend from United Way, Jesse Starks, made local arrangements for their traditional "Day of Caring" on August 19. To our joy, Bristol-Myers Squibb employees chose Better Beginnings as their Caring place. They invited the children and staff to fun, games and a picnic in the park. Co-Director of Education Janice Jones reports that the B-M-S group planned activities that each classroom would enjoy as a group and they rotated every twenty minutes. They had arts & crafts activities, made masks, offered a choice of creative art activities, played games including "Duck, Duck, Goose", "Simon Says", and "Hot Potato". They danced the Macarena, Limbo Rock,and the Chicken Dance. Ms. Janice added that it was well organized, and went smoothly. They brought sandwiches, juice and snacks. Each class made appreciation gifts or cards and gave | them to the B-M-S group at the Park.
I can attest that the children loved them. The group came back to the Center, and stuck their heads in the Heart Friends' classroom. Upon a nod from "Miss Brenda", the children excitedly spilled out into the hallway, hugging the adults' and telling them over and over, "Thank you." Joy to Tina Fiunenero, Jeff Ives, Greg Long,Inp Marcla, Olan Sorenekun, Patty Crutchley, Lisa Richardson, Nadine Roth and, of course, to Jesse Starks. Joy also to the management of BMS for supporting the "Day of Caring." Do you see how these bubbly balls of joy are growing? Do you suppose it is contagious? |
| Penny Pincher got a tip from someone this week. You know those workbooks with written exercises in them? Penny’s friend, Sybil Centz, suggests using one of those plastic page protectors to cover the page. Use it as a sleeve, cutting off the side with holes if need be. Young student can then | use crayons or erasable markers to complete the page. The sleeve can be removed, cleaned up, and returned to the page (or another page) for another young student (whether in the school or in the home.) |
| A project like this clearly shows what a
compassionate, generous community we have. The bubbly balls are bouncing
all over the place! Everyone wants to make sure that our children start
school with best foot forward. For families who are struggling to provide
the necessities for their families, this is a crucial time. Special thanks
to Susan Lloyd and other members of the EWRSD Board of Education and to
Superintendent Dr. Ronald E. Bolandi for making it possible by providing a
"standard" list that we could handle, and to editor Mark Moffa
and writer Melissa Kadish of the Windsor Hights Herald for featuring the
project. That front page article did the trick.
The supplies came rolling in. Russ Goddard, for instance, was in a store, noticed that composition books were on sale for 12 cents. He bought an entire case on sale and toted them here for "our kids." The joy of giving was matched by the joy of knowing that others care. For example, the first recipient was a mother of twins. Surprised and touched, relieved to have help, to have one less problem facing her, the tears began to form and then stream down her face. Her twin sons, on the other hand, were jumping with joy. They love learning and were so excited to have their own back packs with supplies inside. Althea Lewis, our Director of Support |
Services, did a great job of organizing the
boxes of materials into individual packages.. What a joyful day! Tears and
squeals of joy were the order of the day. Another reminder of what it is
like to work where joy is the norm.
We thank you with all our hearts: (Follow the bouncing ball) Judith Katz and Ondina Jeffers made generous contributions. As mentioned last week, Dr. Abalos made a very generous contribution. Anita Brink brought loads of supplies, paper, pads, folders, etc. Jill Guarracido donated another bookbag complete with supplies, in addition to those donated last week by Jill and her Mom, Vera Wojtowicz. Maryann Manlic donated many supplies. Diane S. Ack-Mitchell donated school supplies as well as food and clothing. As mentioned last week, this particular joy-bubble started the very afternoon that the article appeared, with donors and contributors Denise Milot, Angela Watakins, Sherry Watkins,. They were joined by Denise Giannone, "Big Al" Geller, and others intent on spreading joy. Thank you so much; you sure did the job. I have to go now. This entire room is full to the top with these strange bubbly things that are trying to bounce but have run out of space; I need to let some of them out. Here .... catch! |
| Please write to me at bewith@mail2peace.com; or PO Box 187, Hightstown NJ 08520. Remember you can visit our Web site at | www.princetonol.com/groups/bbcdc. You can also call Better Beginnings at (609) 448-6226. |
|
Bettie Witherspoon is a former executive director of Better Beginnings, which has provided affordable child care to the East Windsor/Hightstown area since 1967. |
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