Each Child. Every Community.

Moving to a new community with young children is challenging, especially without a network of family or friends. When Maribel Strachan moved to Person County, North Carolina, in 2012, she quickly realized the need for structured activities and support for parents of young children. Now, as a facilitator for the Kaleidoscope Play & Learn program through the Person County Partnership for Children, Maribel reflects on her journey from seeking community support to creating it to empower families, build connections, and foster early learning experiences that help children and parents thrive together.

“I moved to Person County in December 2012 with my growing family. When I moved to Roxboro, I knew how important it was for my then one child, now three wonderful boys, to socialize and interact with other children. Being new to the community and not having any family or friends here yet, it was a challenge to find guided activities, and resources for young children. Nothing was really posted on social media. Everything was word of mouth. I realized how limited the resources were for young children, and how hard it was to meet other families.  In the summer of 2021 with pandemic restrictions forcing programing outdoors, my youngest child participated in a literacy event at a local park where I interacted with Person County Partnership for Children.

With a shared vision for our community, the Partnership and I embarked on a mission to start play groups for our community.

“Connection is a child’s deepest need and a parent’s highest influence.”

Lelia Schott

“A child is the anchor that holds a mother to life, and when mothers come together, they create a powerful force that can uplift and support one another in the journey of raising the next generation.”

Sophocles

At Person County Partnership for Children, we create that place where parents come with their child/children to be a support group for one another, while their little one(s) learn to foster empathy, improve language skills, discover the concepts of sharing and teamwork, grow confident, and get better prepared for school and ultimately in life. Our goal is to maintain a connection with each and every child’s heart, while teaching skills, boundaries, and behavior and supporting the families of this community.

It took persisting through almost a year of low attendance, navigating pandemic restrictions, and finding the right space for families before the program began to feel like it was going to be a match for our community.  Families were still recovering from being in isolation; they were uncertain of whether it was safe for their child to be in groups, possibly sharing germs. It was a learning experience in socialization as both the children and parents/caregivers had been in isolation. For many of the children, they were isolated from birth.

With confident assurance and faith in our mission, we found our “play” home; in scouting out the library, shopping parks, churches – we found our families. We then had to convince our parents that it was safe to come together. We were sanitizing according to established protocols; hand-washing as prescribed.

As a parent, personally transitioning from being a stay-at-home mom back to the workspace while raising three lovely boys was a challenge. It took a lot of work and persistence but with my lifelong experience of working with children, my love for my new community and the Partnership continuing to support my efforts, I persevered.  I went from some Friday’s having no one show up, to 2-3 consistent families showing up, to having to move outdoors and then having to relocate our play space to a larger room, with help from our local charter school. Now there are almost 50 families registered who come in and out of play group as time allows them.

Being a mom myself, personally experiencing the lack of resources in the community, I knew there had to be a different way. Through the Partnership I have found my avenue to advocate for families with young children, to help them find resources, to help them meet other families who are walking this same journey in life, to bring quality learning opportunities to families who might otherwise be isolated.”