Greetings
Families, Partners, and LTI Community
It’s
December and a perfect time to say “THANK
YOU” in our own languages and styles to each other for our amazing
partnership for strengthening families in our community.
On November 15, Mercy Street
FRC, who is staffed by CHAC (www.chacmv.org),
hosted a Community Partner Appreciation
Gathering for its key community
partners. Among attendees at the event
that day were representatives from:
·
City
of Mountain View
|
·
Mountain
View Los Altos Adult Education
|
·
Mountain
View Community Outreach
|
·
Parents
Helping Parents
|
·
City
of Sunnyvale
|
·
Sunnyvale
Library
|
·
FIRST
5 Santa Clara County (including Commission Chair, Rachel Samoff)
|
·
Tae
Kwon Kids
|
We would like to acknowledge each and
every one of our community partnering agencies (28 and counting) for
contributing to the center and satellite sites we have today. We are
grateful to them for sharing their resources with us, telling their families
about us, inviting us to present classes and give talks, and so much more.
We are also grateful to our volunteers, who,
through their passion for children, families and community, dedicate their
precious free time to teach classes, outreach to other families, keep the
centers clean and organized, and so much more. See our invitation to
the Volunteer Appreciation and Community Holiday Celebration below so that you
can join the celebration and thank the volunteers in person.
And THANK YOU to all of the families who
come to our programs and share your time and your children with us, for your
enthusiasm, and for all of your support and gratitude.
Note from Maddi
Pascua, Program Director:
I would like to extend
heartfelt gratitude for the staff of CHAC employees who are unbelievably
dedicated. Our staff has a reputation among partners and colleagues for
outstanding passion and dedication to our community. They
consistently go above and beyond what FIRST 5 has asked them to provide. They
love seeing the children grow and learn, helping implement ideas that the
community comes up with, like Play and Learn Around the World, filling service
gaps, like helping families who do not know to use computers to register their
children for Kindergarten online, and way too many more things to mention.
Among each other, they are also incredibly supportive, stepping up to fill in
whenever someone is out sick or pulled to another project.
Do you have comments that you would
like to send the staff? Please send us
a note to: mercystreetfrc@gmail.com
 |
| Staff gathered for a staff training at Shoreline Park. (Left to right) Julia Zhu, Nancy Doan, Ana Valle, Ana Moreno, Maddi Pascua, Hadas Keppel, Brandy Vanderheiden, Jane Haddow (former staff), Yadira Rios. |
- Families Found Exercising all over the region! Many thanks to FIRST 5 Santa Clara and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation for funding so many wonderful events in November:
o Mountain View: A Bootcamp workout in Rengstorff Park in Mountain View, Yoga at Mountain View Los Altos Adult Ed,
and a Bombay Jam class
o Cupertino: Yoga for Moms
o Sunnyvale – in
partnership with FIRST 5 District 3 – Zumba, Bombay Jam and Yoga for over 20 families. We
also launched a wildly successful TaeKwonDo class with partners TaeKwonKids,
providing 30 children with classes and more than half with free uniforms.
Additional
thanks go out to The Health Trust, SJB, City of Sunnyvale,
and Fairwood Elementary/The Sunnyvale School District. Families are loving it,
and we hope we can find a way to continue to fund classes to keep everyone
active and healthy.
- Home Childcare Providers Receive Coaching - Community Workers Ana Moreno and Yadira Rios have been providing weekly coaching sessions to eight home childcare providers as part of a pilot program funded by FIRST 5 and a grant from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation to help foster an increase in literacy rich activities in the home day care setting. Region 5 LTI Program Manager, Maddi Pascua said, "We know from research that children exposed frequently to early literacy and oral language development opportunities thrive and have great success in their transition to pre-school and kindergarten. This program helps provide home daycare providers the resources, education and capacity to offer these opportunities to children that spend sometimes 8 hours a day in their settings."
- Holiday Concert to feature FIRST 5 Kids! Trinity Methodist Church, our kind hosts for Mercy Street FRC have invited FIRST 5 kids to participate with holiday songs in their Christmas Concert and Carol-Sing. December 11 from 6:00pm-8:00pm. Featuring two choirs from Trinity UMC, Peninsula Harmony Chorus, Day Worker’s Center of Mountain View and Los Altos UMC. Donations received will benefit Hope’s Corner and Trinity Outreach Project.
- Preschoolers Learn About Gardening at New World CDC – Otilia Cross brought kids from New World Child Development Center out into the classroom of nature in the community garden built by FIRST 5 LTI, funded by The Health Trust. Kids learned about Fall planting through play, art, and learning new ways to enjoy nutritious snacks! It’s our mission to get and keep kids interested in nature, fresh & healthy foods, and eating right. If you have a passion for these things, get involved! We need your help leading activities about once a quarter. Contact Nancy at NancyDoan5@gmail.com for more information.
- Holiday Schedule – to help with your planning, here is a list of the days that all of our centers will be CLOSED until the beginning of 2014
Winter Holidays December
20, 2012 - January 7, 2013, office reopens and classes
resume on Monday, January 14, 2013.
Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Monday January 21, we will be closed.
Coming in December (and beyond)
- Family Day is on in December – Saturday, December 15 from 11:30am-1:00pm at Mercy Street with Leslie and Irene. Please register at mercystreetfrc@gmail.com
- Cómo Criar Niños Emocionalmente Sanos Book Group – Monday December 3, 10:30am-12:00pm at Mercy Street with Yadira Rios. Childcare provided. Please register.
- Healthy for the Holidays- Classes continue in December at Fairwood Elementary in Sunnyvale. New to the schedule is Zumbatomic – Zumba classes designed for kids and parents to take together. See our Sunnyvale page for the list of dates & times.
- Tae Kwon Do continues for the next three weeks if you are already registered and attending. If you are interested in additional series for a low fee (in Sunnyvale), please contact the office to express your interest. Please include your child’s age (for ages 3-5 only).
- Cafecito Mom’s Group (for Spanish speakers) is on Friday, December 7 at Mercy Street from 10:00am to 12:00pm. Childcare available (please register). Want one in your own language? Please let the staff know.
· Trinity United Methodist Church Christmas Concert and Carol-Sing –a
multi-cultural Christmas event. December 11 from 6:00pm-8:00pm. Inside the church (same site as Mercy Street FRC).
Featuring several choirs and our very own FIRST 5 kids.
- Ejercicios en el Parque was rescheduled from November 30 due to rain. The session will happen, if weather is good, on December 14 from 10:00am-11:30am at Escuela FRC and Rengstorff Park. Childcare available with registration, class is in Spanish.
·
Year End Holiday Celebration and Volunteer appreciation party.
December 14 from
6:00pm-8:00pm at Mercy Street. Pot luck,
all are welcome. Come and celebrate the end to a wonderful year and help us
recognize the achievements of the volunteers – we could not do all we do
without their incredible support.
Last Year’s Holiday Gathering was a blend of
traditions with a feast of food and plenty of cheer. We hope to see you there!
