A non-profit agency providing Early Care & Education
programs for children through Kindergarten,
and School Age programs up to age 14!

NDNCC Wine Tasting Fundraiser
NDNCC's Wine Tasting fundraiser will be held on Friday, December 9th, 2011 at Deerfield Wines. There will be tastings of many wine selections,as well as a silent auction of many wonderful donated items. These help raise funds to aid us in our mission of providing high quality services to all children regardless of their family income level. A few of the items in the auction this year are a sports package of UD & DSU Basketball tickets with a signed Joe Flacco card, a dining package of three Newark area restaurant gift cards, a theater package with tickets for Milburn Stone Theater and The Grand, four rounds of golf at Deerfield, and Waterford crystal flutes and a vase. We thank Bank of America for their continued sponsorship of this event. A donation from attendees at the door would also help us to further our mission. We hope to see you there!

NDNCC sponsors Polar Express showing in downtown Newark.
NDNCC is once again sponsoring the City of Newark's free showing of The Polar Express, on Dec. 24th at the Newark Cinema Center 3 at 11:00am. Bring the family out to this event. It is a wonderful opportunity for NDNCC to give back to the Newark community.

State Purchase of Care Program Expands Funding
The State of DE has increased its funding of the Purchase of Care program for providers who accept children from the state child care subsidy program. This additional funding has increased our capacity for accepting children under this program. If you know of any Purchase of Care families looking for accredited, high-quality early care and education, school age care or summer camp, please send them to NDNCC!

Planning Ahead for Summer Camp
Planning for our 2012 summer camp is already under way, even as we just approach the winter season. Evaluations of the 2011 camp from parents, campers and counselors have been carefully evaluated, and any areas for continued improvement are being addressed. The changes to challenge and stimulate the oldest group of camp children seem to have been a great success, so these activities will continue and expand into the new year. Information on the 2012 camp will be available in late January, with registration beginning in early February. Call Irene at 731-4925 for more information.

Classroom Events at NDNCC
A sampling of events that take place at NDNCC during the school year are as follows: Our PreK and Kindergarten children have taken a trip to Coleman's Christmas Tree Farm for pumpkin picking and other fall fun. Our Preschool through Kindergarten classes and their families have been treated to free nights and daytime field trips to the Delaware Museum of Natural History. The ECE children performed a song at our October 2011 50th Anniversary celebration, and enjoyed the annual Soup Sharing event on November 22nd. Clem Bowen has performed for the children on multiple occasions, and in February we had a presentation on dental health and a visit from Mother Goose for storytelling. In May we had an eye screening by the Lion's Club, an Under Seas Adventure program by the DNHM staff, an African Drum/Dance performance, a field trip to Adventure Aquarium for the PreK and Kindergarten classes, and in June our annual Family Picnic and Kindergarten graduation ceremonies were well received events. Whew, it's tiring just typing it all!

Grants Fund Cultural and Literacy Activities at NDNCC
We at NDNCC try to not only educate our children in the many domains of childhood learning, but also to broaden their knowledge of the bigger world around them. To this goal, PNC Bank has awarded NDNCC a grant to provide cultural and artistic experiences for our children. Some of the planned activities include a performance by Clem Bowen on Instruments of the World, classes in music by the UD Community Music School, art projects in partnership with the Newark Arts alliance, and performances/lessons by Latin, Chinese, African Heritage and Middle Eastern community groups. Also, Citizens Bank has provided us with a grant to promote literacy skills, with which we have been able to provide all the children with their own books, and also provide extra literacy skill assistance as needed for our children.

NDNCC Annual Meeting
Our corporate annual meeting was held on February 24th, 2011, with both a delicious dinner prepared by our kitchen staff and entertainment provided by singer Janina Williams. Our children displayed their works of art for our annual art show, and several staff members receiving service awards for 1, 10 and even 20 years of employment at NDNCC.

Thank you volunteers!
NDNCC is honored to have again been chosen by PNC and DuPont to have their employees volunteer their time here. They have helped us with the many tasks involved in a center of our size. Volunteers have recently spread mulch on our playgrounds, performed landscape trimming, powerwashed our building, and painted many of our hallways and classrooms. These volunteer hours save us thousands of dollars that we can then redirect into the programming for our children. Also, several Read A-Loud Delaware volunteers come weekly to read to our children. This one on one interaction provides both mentoring and literacy skill assistance to the children. So thanks again to all the wonderful volunteers!