Join us in welcoming new Day Nursery Development Director Sarah Ferguson

Please join us in welcoming Sarah Ferguson to the Day Nursery Association senior management staff.  Sarah started Monday as our Director of Development taking over for Beth Rodriguez who is relocating to Bloomington. Sarah comes to us from the Riley Children’s Foundation where she served as a Riley Society Gift Officer. During her career she also worked for the Alzheimer’s Association, Greater Indiana Chapter, as Development Director for six years. Sarah has been an active volunteer in our community with affiliations to Junior League of Indianapolis, United Senior Action, Community Health Charities, and A Caring Place – Adult Day Service.  Sarah is married and has two young children.  She can be reached at (317) 636-9197 ext. 240 or sarahf@daynursery.org.

Day Nursery and the IRA Rollover Provision for 2011

Today’s guest post is from Beth Rodriguez, Director of Development at Day Nursery.

In 2011, holders of IRAs who are at least 70½ years old, can contribute up to $100,000 directly to a charity. Instead of withdrawing your minimum distribution from your IRA, you can have funds distributed directly to Day Nursery. This is a great way to make a generous gift to help the children and families of Day Nursery. This contribution will qualify as part or all of your IRA’s required minimum distribution.

This kind of gift to Day Nursery has so many benefits including tax savings for you. Traditionally, distributions from an IRA are taxed as regular income. However, if you gift these funds directly to Day Nursery, you will not be required to pay income tax on the distribution. Please talk to your financial advisor right away to see if you qualify. If you have additional questions, please contact me at (317)636-9197, ext. 240 or brodriguez@daynursery.org.

Thankful Thursday: Day Nursery gives thanks for our generous funders

Day Nursery Director of Development Beth Rodriguez returns today with another guest blog post!
Greetings from the Day Nursery Development Department! It’s been an exciting couple of weeks with some fantastic grants coming through in support of the children and teachers! As Thanksgiving approaches, we want to make sure that these generous funders know how much we appreciate them.

First, we want to thank the Lilly Endowment for an extraordinary grant of $200,000 in support of the Tuition Assistance Program and the Staff Education and Self-Sufficiency Initiative. The Endowment has made a two-year commitment of $75,000 each year for the Staff Education and Self-Sufficiency Initiative (a total of $150,000) and $25,000 each year for Tuition Assistance (a total of $50,000).

Next, we want to extend our appreciation to the Efroymson Family Fund, a CICF Fund, for their generous grant of $50,000 in support of the Tuition Assistance Program. Over the years, the Efroymson Family has awarded $120,000 in support of Tuition Assistance and the Staff Education and Self-Sufficiency Initiative.

The good news just keeps coming!

We also want to thank The Indianapolis Foundation for their $25,000 commitment to the Tuition Assistance Program. The Indianapolis Foundation has invested generously in the sustainability of Day Nursery, and we are stronger now than ever because of their support and belief in our mission and programs.

And last, but certainly never the least, we want to thank the Women’s Fund of Central Indiana, a CICF Fund, for their continued investments in the lives of the children we serve and the teachers who care for them. This year, the Women’s Fund granted $25,000 in support of the Staff Education and Self-Sufficiency Initiative.

If you aren’t already familiar with the core programs that these generous grants are supporting, here’s a little more information:

Tuition Assistance Program: Day Nursery believes that all children, regardless of a family’s income, should have access to high-quality early care and education. Support of the Tuition Assistance Program gives families the opportunity to choose quality early care and education for their children while improving their tenuous hold on self-sufficiency. Thanks to our extraordinary and generous funders, 300 children from low-income families attended Day Nursery this year and got the best start in life.

Staff Education and Self-Sufficiency Initiative: This comprehensive professional development program provides our early education teachers with the tools and financial support they need to earn a Child Development Associate credential (CDA), an Associate’s or Bachelor’s Degree in Early Education. Day Nursery employs more than 150 early education teachers in its centers and, since good teachers are the heart of Day Nursery’s excellent programs for the children in our care, it is essential to provide them with high quality educational opportunities.

If you would like to make an investment in these programs, please visit http://www.daynursery.org and donate today! If you would more information about our exciting planned giving opportunities, please contact me, Beth Rodriguez, at (317) 636-9197, ext 240.

Day Nursery staff members dig deep to support United Way

Today our post is from Beth Rodriguez, Day Nursery Director of Development.  In addition to all the grant writing and fundraising she does year-round for Day Nursery, during the fall of each year she takes on the HUGE additional duty of being the chair on our employee in-house United Way campaign.   I wanted thank Beth for this exceptional effort and to share with you today, a portion of an email she sent out to the staff congratulating everyone for our very successful campaign.

I have exciting news!!! The final results of the 2010 Day Nursery Employee United Way Campaign are in, and it’s awesome!

Total Raised: $17,175

Total Participation: 95%

We totally blew our goal out of the water and increased our average gift to nearly $100!!! We also raised more money than we ever have in any previous United Way Campaign.

This was only possible because of the AMAZING Campaign Ambassadors:

Glynn Allen, Miriam Eversole, Kennette Farthing, Toni Hayward, Caroline King, Vanessa Price, and Susan Ross

Please give them a round of applause!!!!! They will receive special recognition at lunch on the 18th.

The Center Directors also deserve a round of applause too for their hard work and leadership!

The numbers also reflect the money raised at great special activities and events that many of the centers held in celebration of the campaign. Federal held a bake sale, an art sale and collected pennies in their classrooms; Northwest debuted a theatrical production of Benny’s Pennies for parents; and Fort engaged children and parents in collecting pennies- all for the benefit of the United Way. Ms. Patty Fisher and I are working with Center Directors to plan some special ice cream parties for these classes (and centers) that really went above and beyond.

Congratulations to the 100% Participation Club: Clarian, Administration Office, Federal, Fort Harrison, Northwest and Lilly.

And, Congratulations to Northwest who had the highest percentage increase in giving. You are the proud new owners of the Traveling Trophy! (I know Lilly is so sad to see it go!) I’m sure they will decorate it for you, and then I’ll get it delivered to you ASAP with your name on it!

I’m so proud of how hard everyone worked on this campaign. You are all the best! Congratulations!

Day Nursery Auxiliary Raffle Prizes offer something for everyone!

When you buy a raffle ticket at the Day Nursery Auxiliary Luncheon and Style Show this Friday, your donation goes directly to the Day Nursery tuition assistance scholarship fund.  We are very excited about the three prizes up for grabs this year. 

With each raffle ticket purchase, you indicate which drawing you would like to be in.  Thanks to our sponsors for donating this generous prizes: 

1. A David Yurman silver and diamond heart pendant (value: $580) from Reis Nichols Jewelers 

2. A Dolphin Encounter at the Indianapolis Zoo (value: priceless!) 

3. A wine tasting for 6 and a $50 gift certificate from Mass Avenue Wine Shoppe (value: $300) 

You do not need to be present to win so if you would like to support Day Nursery and buy a raffle ticket (or several), call Beth at 636-9197 ext. 240 or email her at Brodriguez@daynursery.org by Thursday morning.  Tickets are $10 each or $20 for 3 tickets. The drawing will take place on Friday, October 1, 2010 at the Oak Hill Mansion during the Day Nursery Auxiliary Style Show and Luncheon.

Day Nursery receives grants for tuition assistance and teaching staff

Thanks to Day Nursery Director of Development Beth Rodriguez, for guest writing today’s blog post!

I wanted to tell you about three special grants that Day Nursery received recently. Two grants, $13,500 from the Nicholas H. Noyes, Jr., Memorial Foundation, Inc. and $10,000 from Star Media Season for Sharing were awarded in support of the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP).

TAP provides a sliding scale fee structure that removes the barriers of poverty or limited income and levels the playing field enabling all families to choose high quality, accredited early care and education for their children.

The Nicholas H. Noyes, Jr., Memorial Foundation, Inc also granted Day Nursery $10,000 to hire and retain quality lead teacher candidates. At the heart of Day Nursery’s excellent early care and education program is our professional and loving teaching staff. Without the highest caliber of teachers in our classrooms, little else matters. This special investment ensures that the children in our care will have the highest quality education professionals preparing them for success in school and far into the future.

All of these gifts further the mission and core belief of Day Nursery to assure excellent early care and education for young children in central Indiana. Both the Nicholas H. Noyes, Jr., Memorial Foundation and Star Media Season for Sharing have given the most important gifts that the children and their families as well as the staff will ever receive– the opportunities and tools with which to build a successful future. We are truly grateful for their generous investment and belief in the mission of Day Nursery.

Join Team Day Nursery at Walking for Dreams

Join Us Downtown on the Canal on Sunday, May 23 to Raise Money for Arts Education Programs for the Children of Day Nursery Indianapolis

Families, staff and friends of Day Nursery are invited to participate in the Walking for Dreams Charity Walk. Developed by the Sycamore Foundation, this (approximately) 5K family and pet walk began in 2004 to help local Indianapolis non-profit organizations raise money to serve the children and families in our community. Day Nursery understands the importance of providing an enriching experience to all the children in our centers and is reaching out to our parents and the community to help fund arts education programs for our children. By registering and collecting pledges for this walk, you will directly impact the lives of the children we serve. Plus, you’ll have a great time walking with your family and friends (including the furry ones) along the Canal on a beautiful day.  Thanks to our partners at AGIS, every registration comes with one complimentary t-shirt.

Please pick up a registration form at any Day Nursery center or visit www.walkingfordreams.org and register to walk for Team Day Nursery plus make an additional donation to support arts education for the children.

What: Walking for Dreams with Team Day Nursery

When: Sunday, May 23, 2010. Check in begins at 1 pm. Walk begins at 2 pm.

Where: Downtown on the Canal at Buggs Temple, 337 W. 11th Street, Indianapolis.

Cost: $20 registration fee, includes one complimentary t-shirt.  Walkers are encouraged to solicit for pledges.

For more information, please call or Email Beth in the Day Nursery Development Office at (317) 636-9197, ext. 240.

Benny’s Pennies help teach Day Nursery students to Live United

As you may know, Day Nursery has been educating the youngest children of Indianapolis for over 110 years.  We not only teach children what they need to be prepared for the academic side of school, we work hard to equip the children with the social and emotional skills they will need to be successful in life. One of the ways young children learn is through role-playing.  For the past few weeks, Day Nursery employees have been setting a good example for our children by using our in-house United Way campaign to share an important lesson about giving. To further expand this lesson into the curriculum, Beth Rodriguez, our Director of Development and the mother of a Day Nursery student, discovered a picture book called Benny’s Pennies, written by Pat Brisson with illustrations by Bob Barner which became the springboard for a series of lessons about thoughtfulness, generosity and the power of giving. Each Day Nursery classroom was given a copy of the book and was free to expand the lesson to follow the children’s interests.  Sarah Parks, Director of the Day Nursery Federal Center sent me some pictures of the Benny’s Pennies activities from her preschool classrooms.  In the Pre-K classroom, the children were inspired by Benny’s generosity in the story and wanted to collect some pennies of their own.  Their teacher, Ms. Shirley brought in a glass jar and the students contributed their coins.  The children told their teacher they wanted to give the money in their jar to United Way to “buy something beautiful for children.”  Benny’s Pennies gave the preschool teachers a great chance to use life lessons to teach counting and number sense and social studies skills.  We are proud to report that 99% of our employees participated in United Way campaign this year resulting a group contribution of $16,423 plus a whole bunch of pennies.

The PreK classroom sorted their money into stacks to help the counting process.

The preschool three-year-olds class helps count pennies.

It’s almost time to set the turkeys free

A few years ago, my coworker Beth Rodriguez and I started a Day Nursery tradition of sending Thanksgiving cards to our donors and friends.  The cards feature a turkey made out of the handprint of a preschool student.  This year we went in search of the “official” turkey at our newest center, located at 5735 W. 73rd Street in Pike Township.  Tomorrow, after all the glue is dry, we are going to collect the turkeys and have a panel of judges select their favorite.  Here are a few pictures from this morning’s card making process.

Day Nursery staff Lives United

Thanks to our staff United Way of Central Indiana campaign coordinators for their hard work. We are proud to say we exceeded our goal this year.

Just got this email from Beth Rodriguez, Day Nursery Director of Development and coordinator of our internal United Way of Central Indiana campaign. As a UWCI agency, our staff sees the good United Way does in our community every day and our employees are committed to support the campaign personally.

 I want to thank everyone for working so hard to make this United Way campaign one of the best we have ever had! We raised $16,356 not counting the pennies that everyone collected. That means we surpassed our original goal of $16,000 by $356! This is amazing! I am so proud to work with such caring and generous people. We are truly blessed.  

This money will go to make not only the children and families of Day Nursery stronger, but to improve life for everyone in the whole community. Everyone had to work together to make this happen, and we are a great team.

Beth reported that the Day Nursery Ruth A. Lilly Center has claimed the ownership of the fabulous Day Nursery United Way Traveling Trophy for having the greatest percentage of increase in giving. The senior staff looks forward to preparing a home-cooked breakfast for the five centers who had 100% staff participation.