There are many ways to love and strengthen the young
children and their families in our community.
Day-Care Centers
To meet day-care directors who desire to meet caring volunteers, call Daru
Kirksey, director of “Success by 6” at 523-9131. Success by Six is an
early-childhood development initiative that focuses on children ages birth
through 6 years old.
All these preschool/child-care programs are in need of:
• People to spend time with kids, read to them, give hugs, play, listen.
• Donations of clothing, books, puzzles, games, paint, jump ropes.
Day-Care Centers
AnDujar’s Room:
525-5280, Linda Shell
Coleman’s Family Daycare:
524-7931, Charie Coleman
Lonsdale Day Care Center:
524-0881, Lisa MacDonald
Reliable Child Care:
522-6959, Yvonne Eliazar
Family & Community Service Centers
Fair Garden:
594-1320, Sherry Lane
Sam E. Hill:
594-3632, Grady Benn
• Need committed hands-on role models/friends in the classrooms for
children and their parents to hug, listen, befriend.
• Contact Compassion Coalition for free video.
Head Start
522-2193, Nancy Thomas
Comprehensive child-care program for 900 low-income 3- and 4-year-old
children and their families in six sites throughout Knoxville.
• Provide child care while parents take classes.
• Many ways to get involved ranging from providing an extra set of arms
for holding kids to paying for child care while a single parent
transitions from unemployment to employment.
Therapeutic Nursery
Helen Ross McNabb Center: 523-8695, ext.1215
Work with abused/neglected children in therapeutic nursery setting (must
be 18+).
Great Starts
521-5613
Children who have been exposed to drugs/alcohol and other high-risk
children.
• Hold babies and play with children ages 6 weeks to 4 years in
nursery/day care.
• Child care is needed some nights and weekends while the mothers are
involved in treatment sessions.
“Poor used to mean not having money and
resources, today it’s dysfunctional families, domestic violence,
drugs, alcohol and substance abuse. When you see the circumstances
some of these children are living in, anger seems to be the most
sane response.”
Joyce Farmer, Knox County Head Start’s director a 35-year veteran in
child care
“We’d love to have churches donate care packages with tooth
brushes, soap and wash cloths, and we like to have them come read
stories to our children.”
Charie Coleman, Coleman’s Day Care |
UT Hospital
Volunteer services, 544-9515
“I have been working closely with the hospitals. I’m sure they would
greatly appreciate individuals who would come and hold drug-addicted
infants. They need far more attention than other infants and the staff
just doesn’t have the time. They convulse and cry endlessly. The one thing
that quiets them is someone holding and praying and consoling them.”
—e-mail from nonprofit director to Compassion Coalition.
YMCA
546-0600
• After-school help with homework.
• Group leaders to guide discussions, help with character development.
Help Single Parents
Edna Eichman, 524-2786
The Family Friends Program needs mature volunteers who feel called to:
• Build a relationship with an at-risk child (a child with special needs
because of health problems, learning disabilities, family problems or
other issues).
• Help a young, inexperienced single mom develop child-rearing skills, or
just listen as she talks about the ups and downs of raising a family.
• Help an already taxed family cope with raising a chronically ill child.
“God-Sized” Ideas for Knoxville Congregations to Consider
• Sick child care. Many days of much needed income are lost because
children are teething, have colds or are feeling bad.
• More affordable child care.
• Scholarships to your preschool, or Mother’s Day Out program for low
income, single parent families.
• Child care during “nontraditional” hours for single parents who must
work evening and weekend jobs.
Contact the Compassion Coalition if you need help connecting with agencies
that serve these families. |
