Learning Center Collects for Food Bank

Student and teachers from the Preschool III (Squirrels and Chipmunks) class at the St. Charles Children’s Learning Center at the College of Southern Maryland, along with the center’s Director Shirley Allen, back far left, gather around the food donations collected by the center’s staff and parents to help restock the Southern Maryland Food Bank after Thanksgiving. The Squirrels and Chipmunks won the center’s competition of bringing in the most donations to assist the food bank.

St. Charles Children’s Learning Center students at the College of Southern Maryland are learning about giving. The center’s staff and parents have donated 1,185 items of non-perishable food with a goal of restocking the Southern Maryland Food Bank after Thanksgiving.

“We made the food drive more interesting by having a battle of the classes to see which class along with parents can donate the most items,” CLC Director Shirley Allen said. “It has been amazing to see parents walking in with bags of items. One parent donated 75 items to the food bank. … We want to thank the parents for all of the donations.”

The Preschool III (Squirrels and Chipmunks) class ended up donating the most.

“The project allowed the children to experience the joy of giving,” Ms. Allen said. “It was a wonderful thing.”

The children’s learning center has been in operation for 11 years and is accredited by the Maryland State Department of Education. The center provides CSM students, faculty, and staff, as well as community members, quality, child-centered care for more than 100 students from ages 8 weeks to 12 years old. The center has 10,000 square feet of learning space, including nine child-centered classrooms, a gymnasium, and a prep kitchen. In addition, the center has its own private landscaped playground and access to the campus grounds.

For information on the CLC, click here.

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