A Taste of Milk & Honey
Evidently, we have not been clear about who attends Head Start. Last week a person who was just learning of our Children’s Enrichment Program asked, “And you take this program to Head Start schools?” “Yes, we do.” “Well, isn’t Head Start where the children are sent who have learning disabilities; you know, the ones we once called ‘retarded’?” “No, absolutely not.”
I took this as a “teaching moment” and explained that all schools should provide educational opportunities and programs for those with special needs. Head Start is not different in that regard. But what is different about Head Start is that it is a pre-kindergarten program for children of the poor. Ninety percent of Head Start children are from families living at or below the poverty level. These children are bright and happy, they respond quickly to stories and songs and rhythmic movement, and, of course, to love and encouragement. If they are lacking, the lack is not in their heads but in their stomachs; not in their hearts but in their homes, often too cold or too hot; not in their potential but in their opportunities. Why not call the Center and arrange a visit to a Head Start school? You’ll see.
I probably said a bit more to my questioner, things like how she could serve those who are under-served, etc. You know, essentially what you and I have talked about. Remember?
From Dr. Fred Craddock, Milk & Honey, March 2008
From the Executive Director
On January 26, 2024, The Craddock Center was awarded the 2023 Non-Profit of the Year by the Gilmer County Chamber of Commerce. We were recognized for the many years of service to the children and families in our community. Since 2001, The Craddock Center has served over 30,000 three and four year old children and the need for our services continues to grow.
And yes, we are growing: we have added nearly 100 new children over the last three years to our Children’s Enrichment Program; the use of our Living Room program has increased 29% in two years; over 100 new volunteers in the last three years; 5,947 hours of helping from our volunteers in the last three years; and, 196 first-time donors over the last two years.
After 23 years of service, The Craddock Center remains a relevant part of our community. We have improved our Children’s Enrichment Program over the years and to follow our mission of enriching the lives of both “children and families”, we have added new programs to further reach the families in our community.
I am excited to announce that we are beginning new programming to reach the “Seniors” in our community. In August of this year, we began providing monthly music and song programs to four local senior communities/centers.
And on October 5th, we will host the ‘Family, Caregiver, and Aging Wellness Community Event’. The event is designed to create awareness for services available to the families, caregivers, and the aging. We are working Senior Medicare Patrol to organize this event. Highland Rivers Behavioral Health, Georgia Mountain Health, Piedmont Health, the Latin American Association, CORE, Institute for Healthy Aging (UNG), Parkinson’s Foundation, Bethesda Community Clinic, North Georgia Community Action, Mutual of Omaha, and the Alzheimer’s Association will be attending.
The Craddock Center is walking the talk…we ARE enriching the lives of children and families in southern Appalachia!!
Giving Tuesday is coming December 3, 2024
Without you, we could not enrich the lives of the children and families we have reached out to in the last 23 years. I keep going back to part of our mission statement…”We serve by Sharing.” Our donors exemplify this!
Please consider a gift to The Craddock Center this upcoming holiday season. Your generosity ensures the work of The Craddock Center is sustained and the children and families we serve continue to reap the benefits of our programs.
You can go to our website, craddockcenter.org, and use the ‘DONATE’ button found on our home page or mail your donation to PO BOX 69, Cherry Log, GA 30522.
Thank you in advance for your continued support and generosity!
Our Smart Babies Program Is Growing
Just like the babies of the parents that participate in our workshops, the Smart Babies program is growing!
The word is out in our community about the quality of this program and our facilitators and new agencies are eager to join. And thanks to the $100,000 grant we received last April, we can support this growth!
Beginning this Fall, we are adding Gilmer County Head Start and Fannin County Head Start. Her Hope Pregnancy Center, Safe Choice Pregnancy Center, and Georgia Mountain Health are continuing the use of Smart Babies for their interested clients.
In addition, we have trained six new workshop facilitators (Sally Dowling, Kathleen Holt, Susan Klevansky, Christ Martinez, Irene Nowicki, and Kim Strube) to help support our growth.
Thanks also goes out to our existing group of facilitators: Sue Hriljac, Cathy Cavagnaro, Patti O’Dell, and Maureen Hicks and to our Smart Babies Coordinator, Bev Cook for the incredible amount of planning & coordination and training they have invested in making this program an enormous success since our first workshop on November 16, 2023.
Smart Babies is designed to help parents of children, ages 0-3, to be their child’s best first teacher. The program is provided by The Craddock Center and is free of charge to participants. The Smart Babies program is using the Ready for Kindergarten curriculum which emphasizes targets in the three following areas: Language and Literacy, Math, and Reasoning, and Social and Emotional Learning. We are initially concentrating on workshops for parents with children in the following age groups: 0-1 years, 1-2 years, and 2-3 years.
Parents attend three free workshops for each age group. During each workshop, parents learn about targets in the three areas mentioned above and are given methods and tools (toys and books) to focus on these targets at home. There are many opportunities for sharing and practicing during the workshop. Snacks or lunch is provided after each workshop to promote further discussion and bonding among the parents.
We Needed Brand New Children’s Books!
During this school year each of our nearly 1,200 children will receive four brand-new books. That’s 4,800 books!! We need Dr. Seuss books, Golden Classic books, and other children’s books for three- and four-year-old children.
You can mail a donation to The Craddock Center at PO BOX 69, Cherry Log, GA, 30522 and put ‘books’ in the comment section. You can also go to craddockcenter.org and use the ‘DONATE’ button on the home page and put books in the notes.
And, you can order books from Amazon, Walmart, and Target and have the books mailed to: The Craddock Center, 300 Cherry Log St., #69, Cherry Log, GA 30522.
Thank you for your generosity and supporting our children!
What are the teachers telling us?
As we wrap up each school year, the teachers and Directors of the Head Start and Pre-K programs we serve are sent a Children’s Enrichment Program evaluation. There feedback is important to The Craddock Center. It helps us improve our programming and highlights those things we should continue to provide.
The feedback below was received in May 2024 for the last school year:
“The children look forward to each class and have grown from the activities.”
“The children love and look forward to your visits each week. They sing the songs they learn and talk about the stories read to them. They get excited to guess what “friends” they will meet the next week.”
“All Craddock Center services align with pre-K goals and standards. Pre-K strives to develop language, literacy, math, and social emotional skills through play, stories, and music. The program aligns perfectly!”
“It [CEP] has given them the opportunity to discover their natural talents. So many of our kids have opened up and look at books in a different way.”
“It [CEP] helps our kids find their passion. It encourages them to participate. Some of our kids are shy, but with Ms. Sheila they are open to new things.”
“Many of our students never hear nursery rhymes and songs until they come to school, and the activities and songs that are provided by The Craddock Center is a big help with this. Also, many of the children do not have many books at home, so The Craddock Center is providing them with books as well.”
“We love everything that The Craddock Center provides for our students. You guys are amazing!”
Your generosity and gifts to The Craddock Center make all of this possible. As a reminder, all of our programming is provided at no cost to the schools. Please continue to help us positively impact the nearly 1,200 three- and four-year-old children we serve each year.
CALLING ALL KNITTERS!!
The Craddock Center has a long-standing tradition of providing our 3- and 4-year-old children with a handmade, knitted cap in November. This gift provides the children with much-needed warmth and a happy heart during the winter. We have been able to do this because of the time and generosity of knitters and knitting groups from all over the country! THANK YOU!
Many questions regarding the size, materials, and patterns of the hats can be found on our website at: https://www.craddockcenter.org/get-involved/knit-a-hat/
At the time of this publication, we have received 725 of the 1,200 knitted caps that we need for this November. You can mail your handmade knitted caps to The Craddock Center, 300 Cherry Log St., #69, Cherry Log, GA 30522. We can also pick them up within a reasonable distance from The Craddock Center. You can reach us at 706-632-1772.
Save the Date!
Our upcoming annual Songs and Stories event will feature John McCutcheon and will be held February 8, 2025, at 3:00pm at The Craddock Center: 186 Fred Craddock Drive, Cherry Log, Georgia. As always, admission is free of charge. We hope to see you there!