Gateway IL Chapter of The Links Gives SIUE Head Start/Early Head Start Parents Holiday Cheer
The Gateway Illinois Chapter of The Links, Inc., helped make Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Head Start/Early Head Start parents’ Christmas a little brighter. The service organization’s Services to Youth Facet committee donated $600 in Walmart gift cards.
Patricia Wharton, a 30-year Links member, presented the gift cards to Head Start/Early Head Start Interim Director Carolyn Jason on Tuesday, Dec. 15 at the program’s administrative offices.
The donation included 24 gift cards for $25 each. Three gift cards were distributed to the Home Base Option and all seven Head Start/Early Head Start centers, including Belleville, Bluffview, Lovejoy, Cahokia, and Discover Center, Helen Davis and Jackie Joyner-Kersee, all in East St. Louis.
“Many of our families are now unemployed and struggling to acquire basic household staples,” said Lisa Tate, SIUE Head Start/Early Head Start assistant program director/center operation. “The Links, Inc. donated to our families at this time last year and wanted them to know they are still here to support in any way possible. They decided to give gift cards, so families can determine what their greatest needs are at this time.”
The Links, Incorporated, one of the country’s oldest and largest service organizations, is an international, not-for-profit corporation established in 1946. Membership consists of more than 15,000 professional women of color in 288 chapters in 42 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of the Bahamas and the United Kingdom. The key programming initiatives are organized into five facets: Services to Youth, The Arts, National Trends and Services, International Trends and Services, and Health and Human Services. The Gateway (IL) Chapter of The Links, Incorporated, was chartered in 1986.
The SIUE Head Start/Early Head Start Program serves more than 860 families and children birth through age five, including children with special needs, throughout St. Clair County. The program also provides services to expectant mothers. The program is housed in 12 early childhood centers, seven managed directly by SIUE staff and five collaborations. The program includes a rigorous school readiness program and provides comprehensive services, such as health/ dental screenings and family engagement and support activities.
Photos:
(L-R) Patricia Wharton, member of The Gateway Illinois Chapter of The Links, Inc., presented gift cards to Head Start/Early Head Start Interim Director Carolyn Jason.
