By Susy Kristin, Linnton Community Center, Executive Director
We Are Stronger Together! After a lot of our services were closed during the pandemic, we have come back stronger than ever. The time off was helpful to see how we can best fit our communities needs and now we put it to action. We have updates on the Food bank, preschool, and the enrichment programs.
Starting off strong, we are growing more accessible. Along with the new ramp, we finally have an ADA approved door to our upper meeting room providing fair access to the food pantry, community events, and LNA meetings. How exciting that more people are included.
A big thank you for all of your bottle donations! The Oregon Food Bank has less protein and produce that we’re able to select, they only have full totes or pallets which is actually too much produce for us to properly store or pass out before it spoils. The money has been helpful towards our goal of bringing families access to fresh food.
The food pantry remains open, but is low on volunteers. We could use help on Tuesdays from 6:00 am-12:00 pm or Thursdays from 6:00-9:00 am. With increased committed volunteers we could keep the food pantry open longer, we used to stay open until 6:00 pm on the last two Tuesdays of the month., which is when food is most needed but have had to stop that due to lack of a volunteer willing to stay late those last two days. We especially are looking for volunteers who can help lift boxes.
As for the ABC University Preschool, the LCC is officially a Preschool for All Pilot site! It takes a village to raise a child and now we can provide it for free. 3 to 5 is a sacred age of development, when they are forming their core memories and the foundation of who they are. Free childcare should get to the root of breaking cycles and building up a child for success no matter what they may be predisposed to.
Hence why we are so passionate about providing that type of care that any parent can access for free. All the while still paying our teachers healthier wages they can thrive off of. Even more exciting is that it’s a bilingual Spanish and English anti-bias program, ensuring that everyone is included in the conversation. Our vision of free childcare that won’t be at the expense of teachers’ pay, is what we’ve been striving for all these years and now it’s finally a reality!
Currently, we are coming to the close of a very successful Summer Camp Program. We’ve had many new families choose LCC for their summer camp experience, and we have been able to add some new destinations to our field trips for the children.
Our Breakfast Club & After School Program will be starting on Tuesday September 6. Also, throughout the school year we will be offering day camps when school is out. Dates to be announced. See our website to register for our enrichment programs.