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This week: A coat drive requires just leaving donations curbside on trash pickup day, a new virtual preschool recruits, and Menlo Park’s Youth Advisory Committee seeks applicants.
Coats for Kids drive
The week of Nov. 9 through 13, drivers from Recology will collect coat donations in addition to the household waste in their usual weekly rounds.
People wishing to make donations to the drive should place coats in a clear plastic bag marked “Coats for Kids” and put the bag next to or on top of the blue recycling cart on their regular waste collection day.
They may also drop off donations between Nov. 9 and 20 in bins at several locations: the West Bay Sanitary District office at 500 Laurel St. in Menlo Park, which is open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Atherton Town Hall at Holbrook Palmer Park at 150 Watkins Ave., open weekdays from 8 a.m. to noon.
Access additional information here.
Application period open for Menlo Park’s Youth Advisory Council
Menlo Park’s recently created Youth Advisory Council, which is made up of up to 12 high school students who live in Menlo Park, is currently accepting applications for its 2020-21 term.
The committee advises the Parks and Recreation Commission on matters relating to youth activities, events and programs. It meets one to two times per month on Thursdays from 6 to 7:30 p.m. during the school year. Meetings are currently being held virtually. Committee members are expected to attend at least 75% of meetings and activities. The deadline is Dec. 2.
Access the application here.
City preschool launches virtual program
The Menlo Children’s Center, a city-subsidized preschool and childcare program located at the Burgess Park Civic Center has announced it is launching a virtual preschool, called “Pre Pods.”
For young children ages 18 months old to 3.5 years, the program offers daily live Zoom activities with themes, circle time and social time and runs on weekdays from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m.
The announcement of the new, virtual program comes months after the City Council agreed to continue investing heavily in the preschool and subsidizing costs for the program.
To adapt to COVID-19 safety protocols, capacity at the child care center was curbed to 36, but even so, as of the end of September, just 22 students were enrolled, according to Library and Community Services Director Sean Reinhart. In just the first quarter of the city’s 2020-21 fiscal year, the preschool was projected to run a deficit of $128,600, according to a Sept. 22 report provided to the City Council.
A July report from the National Association for the Education of Young Children, which surveyed more than 5,000 child care providers nationwide, stated that 63% of programs expected to operate at or below 80% of enrollment beyond the end of the summer, while 91% were incurring additional costs for cleaning supplies. Many also experienced increased costs due to personal protective equipment, facility changes and staff costs associated with keeping kids in small, consistent groups.
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