EQUIPMENT AVAILABLE FOR LICENSED DAYCARE PROVIDERS AFFECTED BY FLOODING

Winona County DayCare Providers Association is offering all licensed daycare providers who suffered a loss due to the flooding a free membership to the association so they can take advantage of our toy lending library, to help with rebuilding their business with toys/and equipment.

Anyone interested in doing so can call Mandy at 454-1531 to set up a time to go to the toy library to look around. Our toy library is located at Coldwell Bank's basement at 104 E 4th Street, Winona. Coldwell Bank lets us use this space free to help us offer many toys--ages infant to preschool and equipment such as cribs, strollers, and high chairs. PLEASE pass this onto a provider you know that was affected by this terrible flood, and let us help them out.

Carolyn A. Goree, Vice President
The Winona County DayCare Providers Association

Free Childcare

FREE childcare (infant thru age 8) for families who have flood damage to their home and for volunteers who are helping with clean-up.
Where: Living Light Church, 850 Hwy 14 (just past St. Mary's University)
When: 9am-5pm starting Fri, August 24 thru Mon, Sept 3 (no care on Sundays)
Questions? Call 454-2732. If possible, please call ahead to let us know how many children to expect. We will have snacks, lunch, and fun age-appropriate activities!

Flood Relief for Child Care Providers

Child Care Resource and Referral has Emergency Grant funding available to Child Care Providers affected by the floods.

You can find the Emergency Grant applications at www.mnchildcare.org. Go to Programs, click on Resource & Referral, then click on For Providers, then click on Region 10 and finally click on the PDF file for Emergency Grant Application. You can also contact Maribeth Fair-Pingree (Grants Coordinator) directly and she will send you an application.

If you would like to know what would be covered and how much, please contact Maribeth directly. She is receiving a high number of calls at this time, so please leave a message. She will contact everyone who leaves a message for her . This is her direct contact information:

Maribeth Fair-Pingree
Grants Coordinator
507-287-2020 Ext 156 or
800-462-1660 Ext 156
Or email her at
maribethp@c2r2.org

The Importance of Play

The most recent installment of the public radio series "Speaking of Faith" spent an hour examining the importance of play, and how play shapes us as human beings. Here's an excerpt from a reflection that the host, Krista Tippett, wrote about the program:

[Dr.] Stuart Brown [director of the National Institute for Play], for his own part, says he spent too many years as a workaholic doctor; and he came to his fascination with play after observing play-deprivation in the lives of homicidal young men he had been given to study. These days, he gives himself three or four hours a day of "rogue tennis," reading, frolicking with his grandchildren. For work, he promotes better science on how play enriches us and nourishes human spirit and character. He believes this has implications for how we should structure our schools, workplaces, and family lives.

I am surprised, and eventually convinced, by the amazing list of virtues Stuart Brown associates with play across the span of our lives, drawing on a rich universe of play study in humans and intelligent social animals. (By the way, stop right here for a smile by looking at amazing pictures of animals quite obviously delighting in play.) It is established, Stuart Brown insists, that an actively playful life establishes the earliest sense of self; sustains trust; provides increased enthusiasm for effectiveness in learning; prevents violence; invigorates the body; lessens the consequences of stress; contributes directly to the capacity to approach and solve complex life problems; and rewards and directs the living of life in accord with innate talents..

You can read the rest of Ms. Tippett's reflection, read the transcript, listen to the program, or download it as an mp3 file, at http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/play.

Flood Relief Donations

United Way accepting donations for flood needsWinona, Minn. – United Way of the Greater Winona Area is accepting donations to assist people who have been affected by this past weekend’s flooding.

“We know that there will be needs that last beyond immediate emergency relief, and this is a way we can help our community address those needs,” commented Board President Bill Gould. “We want to make sure that we do our part to help our neighbors as this event continues to unfold.”

According to Executive Director Beth Forkner Moe, any donations received will be granted to area agencies who provide ongoing assistance to people who have needs arising from the flooding. Additionally, she said, 100% of all funds will be granted for this disaster or (if all the funding is not needed) for future local disasters. United Way will not spend any of the money on administrative costs.

To make a donation, please send it to United Way of the Greater Winona Area, 902 E. 2nd St., Winona, MN 55987, or drop it off at any Merchants Bank location. Checks can be made to “United Way Disaster Fund.”

Minnesota Marine Art Museum August Family Programs

free family storytelling:
Stories and Steamboats
Saturday, August 18 9-10 am
“Steeeeeeeamboat a’comin!” This once-common cry along river towns would announce the arrival of a much-anticipated steamboat. Such boats were full of treasures such as new foods, clothing, interesting people and more. Explore the mystique of the steamboat as well as other special elements of the river as volunteers bring the past to life through stories and artworks. Then steam on over to the Museum’s atrium for a hands-on art project to take home. All ages welcome but stories are geared to ages eight and under.

TODDLER TUESDAY
August 21st 10:30 am-Noon (come and go as you please)
Attention all Toddlers (not yet in kindergarten)! Grab your favorite grownup(s) and head over to the Museum for a kid-friendly discovery day the galleries! Expect to do some activities, projects, exploring and more! This busy morning will engage you in a variety of ways, and even give you and your grown up something fun to think about the next time you visit!

Fall Library Programming

Winona Public Library wishes to thank all the families who participated in our "Go Bananas" Summer Reading Program...it was bananas!
Storytimes and other library programs will resume on
Tues, September 11:
Toddler Tales on Tuesdays from 10-10:20am
Preschool Storytimes on Tuesdays from 10:30-11am.