Carefree/Cave Creek
Community News Excellence for Over a Decade
news.CITYSunTimes.com
CAREFREE
CAVE CREEK
SCOTTSDALE
Daddy Daughter Daughter Daddy Tea Tea
21
Summer Reading Program
31
Bartlett Lake Event
26 PAGE
43
NORTHEAST PHOENIX
BLACK CANYON CITY
FOUNTAIN HILLS
ANTHEM
TAKE ONE COURTESY OF CITYSunTimes JUNE 2017
EARLY EDUCATION GETS BOOST FROM KIWANIS DONATION inancially strapped working parents with preschool age children will continue to get a helping hand with preschool tuition. On May 10, Kiwanis Club of Carefree presented a $20,000 check to Gina Durbin, director of Education & Community Services (ECS), a department of the Cave Creek Unified School District (www. ccusd93.org). The funds will provide Kiwanis Preschool Scholarships for Brilliant Futures to qualified families whose children need financial assistance to attend ECS preschool programs. “This year, Carefree Kiwanis graciously increased the Scholarship to $20K, where in the past two years, we received $10K for our families in need of ECS preschool scholarships,” says Durbin. “I will be working with Foothills Food Bank and AZ Neighbors in Need to identify students in our community that would qualify financially for this program. If we get these little ones starting their educational discovery early, they will be our Class of 2030!” Historically, a total of 125 to 130 children are enrolled annually in ECS Child’s Play Preschool. Of those, an average of five Pictured L-R: CCUSD Superintendent Dr. Debbi Burdick children a year have and ECS Director Gina Durbin at the Carefree Kiwanis check presentation. received assistance. “Early childhood education has positive long-term effects that benefit children, families and our community,” Durbin notes. “Kiwanis Preschool Scholarships for Brilliant Futures will allow children, age three to five, to enjoy safe and developmentally stimulating learning experiences while their parents are at work.” ECS Child’s Play Preschool offers full day and half day programs, and a low 10:1 child-teacher ratio. “Our curriculum focuses on the whole child with an emphasis on learning as a process of interaction with other children, adults, and materials within an environment of play. Children will be involved in a variety of project-based activities, guided investigations and materials that are concrete and relevant to the lives of young children, and emphasize the process, not the product,” says Jenny Stahl, ECS early childhood coordinator. ECS Child’s Play Preschools are located at Horseshoe Trails Elementary School, ECS Preschool, Desert Willow Elementary School and Black Mountain Elementary School. Contact Stahl at 480.575.2062 for scholarship information. For information about ECS, visit www.ecsforall.org or call 480.575.2440. ECS is located at 33016 North 60th Street, Scottsdale.
Carefree Desert Garden’s Kiwanis Splash Park — NOW OPEN! See Pages
21- 27 VisitCarefree.com