Last night our friends Scott and Janice Gratton invited us to a special fund raising dinner to learn more about the Portland Children's Relief Nursery - a critical program that operates both in St. John's and East County - providing services to young children and their families:
We provide a range of services that “wrap-around” the family to reduce parental stress and social isolation. We’re teaching parenting skills, strengthening bonds between parents and their babies, providing targeted services, reducing child behavioral problems and improving social-emotional development in very young children.
We believe that by focusing on the social and emotional well-being of the youngest, most vulnerable children, we can strengthen families. We do this at a time when we can have the greatest impact on their lives, when their children are infants through age 4. Our families get the help they need, when they need it, to overcome their difficulties and emerge stronger — as a family. A failed family becomes a burden on the community. A successful one contributes to it. Together, we are making families stronger.
It was impressive to see Portland Children's Relief Nursery firsthand and to hear how this agency is working with families that have both suffered abuse or are at risk of abuse.
We hope that you will consider supporting Portland Children's Relief Nursery as they seek to expand services during difficult economic times.