Too Cute Tuesday: Splash Day at Day Nursery Ruth A. Lilly Center

While today’s a bit cloudy, the children at the Day Nursery Ruth A. Lilly Center on Central Avenue have had many beautiful days this month to enjoy their newly remodeled playground.  In their early years, children explore the world around them by using all their senses (touching, tasting, listening, smelling, and looking) and splash day offers many opportunities to explore and pretend.

These “Too Cute Tuesday” pictures feature a recent playground splash day on the playground designed just for infants and toddlers.

Friday Faces: Day Nursery Northwest Indianapolis

Happy Easter from the children of Day Nursery

Day Nursery students help tackle hunger in Indy

Federal Center

Congratulations to the staff and families of the seven Day Nursery early childhood centers and our administrative staff for helping to Tackle Hunger in the Indianapolis area as part of the national Souper Bowl of Caring annual event.  As a group,  Day Nursery made this contribution:

• Total food donated: 559 items
• Total money donated: $340.59

Here’s a recap of our success story center by center. The Day Nursery Federal Center downtown selected their Pennsylvania Street neighbor, The Metro Baptist Center food pantry to support.  In a typical month, this pantry serves 400-500 people.  Federal Center Director Sarah Parks reports her center  collected 118 items and $32 to help them out.

Ft. Harrison Day Nursery

Our Start Smart 4 Children Day Nursery at Ft. Harrison split their collections between the Damien Center on North Arsenal and The New Haven Missionary Baptist Church food pantry.  The center collected 100 food items and $19.22 in cash. Ft. Harrison Center Director Debra Ballard and her head cook Beverly Croom are pictured here getting ready to wheel the donation out to the car.

Day Nursery Hendricks County

The Day Nursery Hendricks County Center collected 73 food items and $31.50 for the Messiah Lutheran Church in Brownsburg. The MLC Food Pantry exists to provide food for families and individuals in Hendricks County who are experiencing temporary financial hardship.

Day Nursery IU Health

The Day Nursery IU Health Center was collecting for Dayspring Center at the corner of 16th and Central Avenue.  Day Nursery Director of Curriculum, Jesse McCloud, who is based out of our IU Health Center knows the Dayspring Center very well because her late mother used to run the food program there. Dayspring provides emergency shelter, clothing, and three nourishing meals-a-day for homeless families with children in central Indiana. The IU Health center collected 34 cans of fruit and vegetables and $143.69 in money for Dayspring. Pictured above, Jesse McCloud joins  Rene Withers of Day Nursery to make the presentation to Dayspring Center Executive Director Lori Casson.

Northwest Center

The Day Nursery Northwest Center chose to do their Souper Bowl of Caring collection for their Pike Township neighbors at the Fay Biccard Glick Center at Crooked Creek,2990 West 71st Street. They collected $81.23 in funds and 20 different non-perishable items.  Ms. Rene’s class, pictured here, collected the largest amount of money and food.  The classroom won a pizza party and Ms. Rene won a Souper Bowl of Caring t-shirt.

Lilly Center

The Day Nursery Ruth A. Lilly Center was so close to the beneficiary of their Souper Bowl of Caring collection that the Pre-K class took the donations over to them in wagons. The students collected 100 food items for donations to the Tabernacle Presbyterian Church,418 East 34th Street. TAB serves meals to their neighbors every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. More than 800 people come through our doors each month for a hot lunch and food to take home to families.

State Center

The staff and families of the Day Nursery Indiana State Government Center chose to collect for the Northside New Era Baptist Church Feed the Sheep program where Day Nursery teacher Debbie Beatty is a volunteer.  The food pantry served over 1400 families last year and is open twice a week. The center collected$32.95 cash and 74 food items.

Day Nursery Human Resources Director Cathy Johnson

Finally, the staff of the Day Nursery Administration office in the English Foundation Building chose to collect food for the Ronald McDonald House to honor our co-worker Marsha Hearn Lindsey, Day Nursery Chief Operating Officer, who is retiring from a position on the RMH Board of Directors.  Food collected will help restock the pantry at the Ronald McDonald House allowing families to prepare meals at the house so they can stay close to their child being treated at Riley Hospital.  We collected 40 non perishable items and also donated fresh fruit and eggs for their kitchen.

Too Cute Tuesday: Day Nursery Ruth A. Lilly Center opens new classroom

Yesterday we opened a new classroom for one year olds at the Day Nursery Ruth A. Lilly Center, 3522 N. Central Avenue.  We had 4 toddlers on day one but eventually we will accommodate 10 children in this new room.   The children had fun trying out a room full of new toys and getting to know each other.  Thanks to Center Director Shannon Garrity for sharing these pictures.

Day Nursery Openings

Friday was Watermelon Day on the summer fun schedule-yum!

If you are looking for child care, the summer is a great time to search.  While Day Nursery is open year round, we still experience a bit of a drop in enrollment as summer kicks off and people change their family patterns.  We currently have immediate openings for infants (which is VERY unusual for us) at our State Center downtown, our Clarian Center downtown and in Avon on the campus of Clarian West.  We also have scattered openings for toddlers, twos and preschoolers at all locations.  Check the list of centers at the right of our blog and contact the center directly for more information.