KEYS Annual Project - Head Start
One annual activity for KEYS (Kosciusko Endowment Youth Services) is our Head Start project. On Wednesday, December 12th, members of KEYS visited the four county Head Start locations to deliver educational gifts to children at these centers. The Head Start program allows disadvantaged children to get a “head start” before entering kindergarten. Many of the children have difficulties with their language development or are not native English speakers.
KEYS uses a portion of our grantmaking funds to purchase educational games and toys at our local Wal-Mart store. It is a tradition that the 4 senior class members of KEYS shop for the toys. After delivering and helping the children open their gifts, KEYS students stayed to interact with the Head Start students, getting to know them.
This Head Start project is one of the most popular annual KEYS activities. The other activity is “Read Across Kosciusko,” which is similar to “Read Across America,” to encourage reading to young students. These favorite activities allow the KEYS students to see how their efforts impact their community. These events are greatly anticipated and planned each year by the KEYS students and enjoyed by all the participants!
OTHER PROJECTS
Some of the yearly activities of KEYS include: November – the Community Foundation Annual Meeting and the Community Education Summit; December - Head Start project at the 3 county locations; January – Site Visits to KEYS grant locations; April – “Read Across Kosciusko County” project; and May – Celebration of Senior Members and Year’s Activities. KEYS students volunteer at community service projects. And this year KEYS is working on piloting a “Little Philanthropist” program in one elementary school.