Callison & Weddle - Thrive by 5 Giving Day

 Patty Callison: My education was in speech, drama, and English education.  I love the theatre! My career was spent providing instruction, materials, and services to young people as a teacher and librarian. The last 25 years I worked at the Monroe County Public Library as a Children's Librarian. I came to know the children and families of this area, to know the value of providing good literature to young children. But I also came to recognize that programs of early childhood education could build a world around those books, and that literacy, imagination, and creativity are best nurtured by parents AND a good preschool environment. I also love to tell stories as a storyteller.  Since my retirement, I have volunteered with Team First Book of Monroe County to fund books for low-income children in Monroe County and I do storytelling with KAP (Kids with Absent Parents—incarcerated parents) and the Bloomington Storytellers’ Guild. I am also a book buying-book reading Grammy to my granddaughter and grandson who have both received the benefits of quality preschool education. I am proud and excited to support the goals and promise of Thrive By Five to make preschool available to all children.

Jo Weddle:  One of my favorite words is “passion” - I deeply believe in involvement in things about which one feels a deep passion and that is how I choose where, from the many possibilities there are in life, to place my commitments.   One of my greatest passions is learning - continuously - and I learned early in life how deeply I felt about reading and all one gains from the reading of books.  It was this love of learning that led me to a career in education - my profession where I spent many years as a classroom teacher, a teacher of remedial reading, leading as an administrator, and directing the reading services in our MCCSC schools.  I have worked with children of all ages and both led and watched their progression in learning to read, loving to read, and being successful in school because of being a good reader.  And I know what a difference exposure to books and learning makes when it begins at the youngest ages.  I have seen what a difference it makes when starting school if children have spent those early years browsing through books, learning letters, being exposed to words, being read to, and carrying on learning conversations while seeking answers to questions.  What more can we give our children than passing our passion for learning on to our youngest children during those preschool years? What more can we do to assure that our children will be successful in school and in life? I am a wholehearted supporter of the goals of Thrive By Five and encourage others to do the same.  We must work together to make preschool available to all of our children.

About the Thrive by  Five Campaign:
Funding will be used to increase access to high-quality education for at-risk children and low-income families, improve quality of programs, cultivate family engagement and community partnerships, develop training opportunities for educators, and provide required community matching funds for On My Way Pre-K students. Learn more about the Thrive by Five Campaign.