The Rotary Club of Ste Genevieve was recently awarded a $10,000 grant from global humanitarian organization Save the Children to support the "Ste Genevieve Community-Wide Kindergarten Readiness Project". The local Rotary group donated an additional $1,000 for this cause. The grant helped fund the purchase of pre-kindergarten readiness supplies to be distributed county-wide to our 3-5 year old children who are not enrolled in preschool.
The Rotary Club of Ste Genevieve was selected by Save the Children to support innovative approaches to early childhood learning. The grant will fund community-wide initiatives that support kindergarten readiness, early literacy, and early numeracy.
After learning about Save the Children's funding opportunity through Rotary's "belRAG", Basic Education & Literacy Rotarian Action Group, two Rotarians set upon the endeavor of reaching out to community members and educators to develop a plan for the grant. Upon being awarded the grant, Ste. Genevieve High School students, as well as Ste. Genevieve County R-II preschool and early childhood employees, assisted our local Rotarians in packaging the pre-kindergarten readiness supplies in the high school cafeteria.
According to the Ste. Genevieve County Health Department, there are approximately 616 children ages 3-5 in our county. Less than half of these children attend one of the county’s public or private preschools. Surveys among county early childhood educators indicate the following gaps for kindergarten readiness: inability to identify/write their name, lack of fine motor skills, also the inability to count objects, identify colors, shapes, letters and numbers. The funding will be used to create "pre-K readiness bags" full of items to support caregivers in their child's preparation for kindergarten.
“Save the Children is thrilled to work with these local champions for children,” said Tamsyn Oakes, Senior Advisor for Community-based Services at Save the Children. “We are looking forward to supporting all of these innovative projects designed to help young learners grow and develop across rural America.”