As anyone with kids active in extra curricular activities knows, weekday evenings can be hectic. In helping with her six grandchildren, Debra Ellis experienced the hustle from school to practices to recitals firsthand, and felt that something should be done to make life easier on parents and to create more opportunities for family time.
"I thought there has to be a better way," says Ellis. "So we started to write this curriculum for this program a few years ago. It was all to give family time back."
The result was the
Children's Enrichment Center in Haslett, a place where children can enroll in classes and activities immediately after school, so parents can pick them up after work with their activities and homework completed.
The 4,000 square foot facility is accessibly to both local elementary schools and will offer dance, martial arts, music and art classes, as well as rotating activities. Classes will begin in January, and enrollment for up to 50 students has begun. A grand opening will take place for the public this friday.
Initially, Ellis will work with six contracted instructors and three employees at the Children's Enrichment Center. As the organization, which has applied for non-profit status, take up only two-thirds of the building, Ellis hopes to see their presence there grow. She also plans to add one new Children's Enrichment Center per year in new communities in the future.
Source: Debra Ellis, The Children's Enrichment Center
Writer: Natalie Burg, Development News Editor
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