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First ‘Zumbathon’ raises funds for Project Help

January 31, 2013 By

Project Help volunteer coordinator Kerry Boylan, center left, and Holly Hutchinson enjoy a light moment during the Zumbathon fundraiser held Jan. 19 at The Warehouse/Dance Murfreesboro. The two-hour event raised $1,200 for Project Help. (Photo courtesy of Project Help/Christine Green Photography)

About 50 Zumba enthusiasts danced for two hours on a recent Saturday to raise more than $1,200 for MTSU’s Project Help, the university’s inclusive pre-school.

Proceeds from the “Zumbathon” will go directly to Project Help’s Wishing Tree Program, which helps provide needed classroom supplies and materials for Project Help teachers.

The “wishing tree” is actually a wall mural, painted years ago by a Project Help parent as a creative way to communicate teachers’ day-to-day needs. Supporters can pick an “apple” from the tree with a wish for a particular item, such as baby wipes, graham crackers or Play-Doh, and then donate the item — or money for it — for the teacher.

Held on Jan. 19, the Zumbathon drew a lively group of the dance fitness enthusiasts to The Warehouse/Dance Murfreesboro on Middle Tennessee Boulevard for what organizers say will be an annual event.

“Movement is certainly an integral part of the preschool curriculum,” said Susan Waldrop, director of Project Help. “Our preschoolers dance every day. There are some really cool dances that we love, plus they increase and improve body tone.

“The Zumbathon is a nice companion to our daily goals at Project Help. We’re grateful for this fundraiser and thank those who made it happen.”

Community contributors included The Warehouse/Dance Murfreesboro, which donated the studio space for the event; HobNob Murfreesboro; VIP Murfreesboro magazine; the Adams Family Foundation; Christine Green Photography; and Missy Melhorn of Olympus Athletic Club and Michelle Palmer of Michelle’s School of Dance, who organized the Zumba event.

Project Help works with children with developmental delays in an interactive environment, where they learn and play with those who are developing typically. The programs engage children in a variety of fun and exciting educational experiences.

Project Help has served the MTSU and Middle Tennessee communities for nearly 30 years, training more than 300 MTSU students each year through hands-on classroom experiences.

For more information, please contact Kerry Boylan at Kerry.Boylan@mtsu.edu or 615-898-2458 or visit www.mtsu.edu/projecthelp. You can see more photos from the event at Project Help’s Facebook page, www.facebook.com/ProjectHelp.

— Jimmy Hart (jimmy.hart@mtsu.edu)

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Project Help celebrates holidays with families, friends, Santa

December 17, 2012 By

The jolly old elf gets a thank-you hug from a new friend during the Project Help holiday party Dec. 11 in MTSU’s Fairview Center. (photos courtesy of Project Help)

Dozens of family members, friends and supporters joined the children of MTSU’s Project Help inside the Fairview Center to welcome Santa and celebrate the season at the preschool’s recent holiday party.

“The holidays are a time for families to come together, so each year we host a holiday party to give our Project Help family an opportunity to meet and mingle,” said director Susan Waldrop.

“In the past we held the party at the Project Help center on Baird Lane,” she continued, “but in the last few years, the party has grown so much that we had to find a bigger space. If we keep growing we’ll have to find an even bigger room next year!”

Santa’s bag was filled books and candy canes for the children at the Dec. 11 event, and tables covered with holiday treats brought smiles to children and parents alike.

Project Help is an inclusive preschool that has served the MTSU and Middle Tennessee communities for nearly 30 years. At Project Help, children who have developmental delays learn and play with those who are developing typically.

Project Help’s progressive preschool serves children from 15 months to 3 years old. The new “Project Help Prep” for children ranging from 3 years old to kindergarten age currently offers a half-day, tuition-only program four days a week.

The center’s staff, which includes more than 150 student volunteers each semester, works with parents through family-support programs that include workshops, one-to-one interactions and informal training seminars.

For more details about Project Help and its services, visit www.mtsu.edu/projecthelp. You also can see more photos from the holiday party at www.facebook.com/projecthelp.

 

Project Help students practice their wish-list techniques in the Baird Lane facility with a stuffed Santa and Mrs. Claus. They met the real thing — or at least Mr. Claus — Dec. 11 at Project Help’s holiday party at the Fairview Center.

Project Help staffers gather with the guest of honor for a photo during the Dec. 11 holiday party in the Fairview Center. Seated with Santa are, from left, volunteer coordinator Kerry Boylan, teacher Lindsey Shepard and director Susan Waldrop. Standing are, from left, secretary Tricia Yeargan, teachers Mary Bowens, Celina Diaz de Morris, Bobbie Young, Tanya Estrada, Amanda Kelley, Deborah Newman and Helen Kasawne, and senior education major Paula Tran.

A little friend gets a bit wriggly waiting for a photo to be snapped with Santa as the jolly elf’s helper, MTSU senior Paula Tran, looks on at the Project Help holiday party.

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Help MTSU ‘little friends’ fight big friends’ hungry holidays

November 21, 2012 By

MTSU’s littlest students at Project Help are lending a hand to their big friends on campus this holiday season.

The children of the early-intervention preschool are teaming up with the MTSU Student Food Panty and Jones Therapy Service to keep the shelves stocked with supplies for hungry students on campus.

On Nov. 16, Project Help staffers delivered brimming boxes of food donated during the children’s annual trick-or-treating buggy ride across campus.

One of the poster girls for Project Help’s Student Food Pantry drive poses next to a box filled with donations. (photos courtesy of Project Help)

“We take the ‘help’ in Project Help very seriously,” said Director Susan Waldrop.

“When we heard about the need in the student community, we knew we had to do something to help. Almost 200 MTSU students help in our classrooms each year, so this is our chance to give something back.”

Becca Seul launched the MTSU Student Food Pantry, located in the McFarland Building, this fall after she noticed a growing number of students in need across campus.

“With the holidays coming up, it’s important to us that we make sure our hungry students are taken care of,” Seul said. “Many of them will be without families over the break, so our being able to provide them with food is one less stress they will have to worry about.

“To see and hear the responses we get from students accessing the pantry, you would think we’ve given them the world. It’s amazing what such a little bit of food can do to help them in the big picture, which is their academic success. We want them to succeed, and it’s a proven fact that students succeed with a full stomach!”

Project Help’s costumed toddlers and staff also used their Halloween cross-campus trek as an opportunity to spread awareness for the food pantry while distributing donation boxes to various locations.

They plan to continue collecting donations of nonperishable food items at the main Project Help facility, located at 206 N. Baird Lane, for the Student Food Pantry.

Founded in 1983, Project Help provides free early-intervention and family-support services to very young children with disabilities and developmental delays. It currently serves 68 children, including 45 with special needs.

Seul and the MTSU Student Food Pantry can be contacted at 615-494-8910 or becca.seul@mtsu.edu.

For more information about Project Help, including a link to more great photos at its Facebook page, visit its website at www.mtsu.edu/projecthelp.

 

Project Help students help sort donated food items into boxes for the MTSU Student Food Pantry.

A Project Help student studies an almost-full box of donated items before adding her contribution.

Children from Project Help rest a bit after helping place food donations into boxes for the bigger kids on campus.

Project Help supporters pose with some of the boxes of donations for the MTSU Student Food Pantry. From left are Brandon Brown, philanthropic coordinator for the Student Government Association, Project Help Director Susan Waldrop and Amanda Damaschun and Kristen Keene of MTSU’s James E. Walker Library.

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Project Help’s Family Fall Festival plenty of fun for everyone

October 18, 2012 By

MTSU freshman Dalton Burton, a psychology and dance major, offers a handful of sprinkles to one young chef as another eyes their creation at the cookie-decoration station at Project Help’s Family Fall Festival Oct. 18. (MTSU photos by News and Media Relations)

Mix a dollop of face paint, a handful of cupcake sprinkles and some pumpkin-seed-covered giggles in a sandbox, then let it all bake in a sunny fall afternoon.

That’s the recipe for Project Help’s Family Fall Festival every year at MTSU, and the result is always delicious — and sometimes hilarious.

Families, friends, teachers, neighbors and community supporters turned out Thursday to spend the afternoon with the kids of Project Help, Rutherford County’s only community- and center-based program serving very young children, including those with special needs.

The festival, enhanced by the breezy October blue skies, welcomed dozens of visitors with snacks, games and the MTSU Dairy’s always-crowd-pleasing chocolate milk. Several members of the Blue Raider football team and coaches took a break from practice to carve pumpkins, and Brad Hopkins, a former Tennessee Titan and current sports radio host, stopped by for a quick visit with the Project Help kids, too.

“The goal is to provide our children and their families with an afternoon filled with free, fun and fabulous fall festivities,” said Director Susan Waldrop. “The weather’s cooperated beautifully and we’ve all been having a great time!”

Founded in 1983, the nonprofit Project Help provides free early-intervention and family-support services to toddlers with disabilities and developmental delays. It currently serves 68 children, including 45 with special needs.

Project Help’s progressive preschool serves children from 15 months to 3 years old. The new “Project Help Prep” for children ranging from 3 years old to kindergarten currently offers a half-day, tuition-only program four days a week.

The center’s staff, which includes more than 150 student volunteers each semester, works with parents through family-support programs that include workshops, one-to-one interactions and informal training seminars.

For more details about Project Help and its services, visit www.mtsu.edu/ProjectHelp.

— Gina E. Fann (Gina.Fann@mtsu.edu)

A bouncy castle slide brings out the giggles at Project Help’s Family Fall Festival Oct. 18.

A pair of Project Help supporters, disguised as SuperDad and SuperKid, frost some supercookies at the 2012 Family Fall Festival.

MTSU Blue Raider Zachary Lopez, left, applies his artistic skills to a Project Help pumpkin as teammate Aaron Davis offers suggestions and fellow Blue Raider Carlos Lopez, center, holds up his finished work at the Family Fall Festival.

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‘Saddle Up’ gives Project Help’s cutest cowpokes a boost

July 20, 2012 By

Dust off those boots and tighten up that 10-gallon hat for MTSU’s upcoming “Saddle Up for Project Help” fundraiser, pardner, or you’ll have to answer to some mighty big little cowpokes.

One of Project Help's cowgirls tries on a new hat for the 2012 "Saddle Up for Project Help" fundraiser at the MTSU Foundation House. (photos courtesy of Project Help)

“Saddle Up” gets under way at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 26, at the MTSU Foundation House, located at 324 W. Thompson Lane next to the university’s Tennessee Miller Coliseum.

Tickets are $50 per person — Western wear is encouraged! — and include a barbecue dinner and two drinks, followed by live music and dancing. A silent auction will feature items including Southwest Airlines and Disney Theme Parks tickets, a weeklong beach-condo stay and an on-the-spot work of art painted by Nashville artist Arthur Kirkby.

Director Susan Waldrop said funds raised at the 2012 event will be used to continue expanding services for Project Help, which is Rutherford County’s only community- and center-based program serving very young children, including those with special needs.

A Project Help cowboy slows his trusty steed long enough to show that the "Saddle Up" fundraiser is serious business.

Previous “Saddle Up” events have helped the program grow into new classroom space and offer services to older children.

“Our ultimate goal is providing a one-stop, wrap-around preschool educational and therapies center,” said Waldrop. “The fun component of this fundraiser is the way folks in the community seem to enjoy putting ‘Saddle Up’ together.”

Founded in 1983, the nonprofit Project Help provides free early-intervention and family-support services to toddlers with disabilities and developmental delays. It currently serves 68 children, including 45 with special needs.

Project Help’s progressive preschool serves children from 15 months to 3 years old. The new “Project Help Prep” for children ranging from 3 years old to kindergarten currently offers a half-day, tuition-only program four days a week.

The center’s staff, which includes more than 150 student volunteers each semester, works with parents through family-support programs that include workshops, one-to-one interactions and informal training seminars.

Grants from the Tennessee Department of Education through Early Intervention Services and the United Way of Rutherford and Cannon Counties partially fund Project Help’s work. Dozens of community organizations and businesses also provide the center with much-needed equipment, toys and consumable items every year.

Tickets are available by calling Project Help at 615-898-2458. For up-to-the-minute details on “Saddle Up for Project Help” 2012 including photos of the center’s children and the silent-auction items, visit www.facebook.com/ProjectHelp or click on the logo at right.

– Gina E. Fann (Gina.Fann@mtsu.edu)

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MTSU football players visit Project Help

October 28, 2011 By

Blue Raider football players took a timeout from classes and practice to carve pumpkins with the children at Project Help. MTSU’s Project Help is an  early-intervention program that offers free services for families of very young children—those ages 6 months to 3 years—with developmental delays or disabilities. It is the only center-based program for young children with special needs in Rutherford County. Learn more about Project Help at www.mtsu.edu/projecthelp.

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