Contact: Phil Hearn
Photo by: Megan Bean
STARKVILLE, Miss.--Mississippi State's Early Childhood Institute is launching a collaborative effort to help "tens of thousands" of children displaced and traumatized in the deadly and disruptive path of Hurricane Katrina.
A team led by university professor and ECI coordinator Cathy Grace is soliciting financial support and a wide variety of age-specific educational materials that will be distributed this fall as part of a campaign dubbed "Hurricane Relief: Embrace Mississippi Children."
"We expect to transport a million pounds of educational materials," said Grace, who is coordinating the effort through the office of Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour.
Campaign volunteers initially will target young hurricane victims now housed in disaster relief shelters across the state for the delivery of zip-lock, start-up packets chocked full of such items as books, puzzles, dolls and age-specific educational toys.
Grace said the longer-range effort will focus on some 300-400 licensed child care centers and an undetermined number of family child care homes destroyed or otherwise adversely impacted by Katrina in a 35-county area south of U.S. Interstate 20.
With the cost of materials estimated at "$300-500 per classroom" for the child care centers, some housing up to 20 classrooms each, the program's value in cash contributions and donated items could range into the millions of dollars. Support will be sought from a variety of public and private sources--including church groups, corporations, social agencies, campus social and service fraternities and sororities, American Red Cross, and Girl Scouts.
"Tens of thousands of children in Mississippi probably were affected by Hurricane Katrina," said Grace. "Hopefully, this effort will help these children achieve some degree of normalcy in their lives. It's so unnerving from an adult standpoint; just imagine how traumatizing it must be from a child's perspective.
"Their lives have been turned upside down," she added. "If they can see a familiar book or a familiar toy, they can feel like something is right again--and that can start them on a healing process."
The ECI provides leadership in developing early childhood policies and practices at the state and local levels, improving the quality of care and education for children through the third grade, and building community partnerships with families and schools.
A former early childhood coordinator for the state Department of Education, Grace joined the MSU faculty in 1999 as an associate professor of curriculum and instruction and director of the ECI. Since 2004, she also has directed the MSU-based National Center for Rural Early Childhood Learning Initiatives, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Education.
Sponsors already onboard for the hurricane relief campaign in addition to the ECI include MSU's Extension Service and School of Human Sciences, along with the Children's Defense Fund, Mississippi Public Broadcasting Network, Mississippi Conference of the United Methodist Church and Mississippi Early Childhood Association.
While other sponsors are being sought, a series of special events and activities are being planned to help generate support for the effort.
An initial warehouse site for storage of materials will be located at Tupelo's First United Methodist Church, which also will help distribute the materials. Assistance also is being sought from the Jackson-based Catholic Charities and Episcopal Diocese.
"First United Methodist Church has a heart for children and we want to facilitate ministry and recovery as quickly as possible," said church pastor, the Rev. Bill McAlilly.
Grace added: "As we watch continuing coverage of Hurricane Katrina and the related flooding, it is important to remember that young children may be especially affected by disasters. Families and others who care for young children need to provide comfort, reassurance and stability."
Donated materials or cash contributions may be addressed to Hurricane Relief: Embrace Mississippi Children, First United Methodist Church, 412 W. Main Street, Tupelo, MS 38804. Warehouse coordinator Lynn Darling may be contacted at (662) 841-2014. Checks should be made payable to FUMC Tupelo and designated for "Hurricane Relief."
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For guidance on what types of materials are being sought or for other information, visit www.educ.msstate.edu/cni/eci or call (662) 841-2014.