Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Welcome Renée Bromfield!

The Bethlehem Center of Charlotte is proud to welcome Renée Bromfield as the new Director of Community Relations. Renée moved to Charlotte from Dallas, Texas in July of 2008 where she managed her own company specializing in marketing, branding, events and fundraising. In addition, she served as Director of International Business Relations for the Dallas Regional Chamber.

Renée is an alumna of Vanderbilt University and received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Southern Methodist University where she majored in Marketing and minored in Psychology. Upon graduation, she was inducted into the Golden Key National Honor Society.

In addition, Renée is an actively engaged in her church and the community. In the past, she has worked with various philanthropic organizations in Dallas including Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), The Center for Non-Profit Management, Parkland Hospital and Scottish Right Hospital for Children. Currently, she is involved with Room in the Inn, Carolina Breast Friends and the Mint Museum.

An active member of the Episcopal Church community, Renee has served on over 15 committees and ministries. Recently, Renée joined Holy Comforter Episcopal Church in Charlotte where she serves as a lector and may co-lead an adult bible study in the fall. She also attends a weekly Methodist bible study called Companions for Christ. During her free time, Renée likes to Skype with her three year old nephew in Denver, CO, read, travel and needlepoint.

Friday, July 2, 2010

Exercise as a part of programming

Last night, the teens started their season of tennis lessons held Tuesdays and Thursday nights during the summer. It was a perfect day for it. At least, the best you can get in a Carolina summer. It was approximately 80 degrees, sunny, with shade surrounding the courts for on-looking parents.

Teens were split into two groups for some friendly competition. The game? See which line can hit the most balls "in" on the other side.

Next stop was elimination fences. It's kind of like playing doubles, except there is a line of people waiting for you to mess up so they can take your place. Hit the ball out or into the net? Go to the back of the line. Miss the ball completely? Elimination. Of course there was some (friendly) trash talk as to who would get out first. The one who beat us all? A 6-year-old who stood no more than 4 feet tall.

The Bethlehem Center incorporates healthy living and exercise into all of our programs. With childhood obesity on the rise, we want to make sure our kids are out and about playing sports (or at least, in the auditorium dancing) as much as possible. Of course, the staff favorite event is the staff vs. kids basketball tournament, where at least for the last 3 years the kids have beaten the staff by at least 20 points. Maybe this year...

If you have a special sporting skill that you'd like to share with the kids or teens, let us know! We'd love to have you!

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

5-Star Ratings

At many child care centers, the goal of licensing is to simply stay operational.

But not here.

Our goal is to achieve 5-star ratings at all of our locations. A lofty goal? Absolutely! For those of you reading this who have experience within the child care community, you know that achieving a 3 or 4 star rating will get you lots of business. But 5 star? That means the children we are serving here through free programs are getting the best of the best quality!

At BC Main, we bumped up from a 4-star to a 5-star rating 2 years ago, achieving 13 out of 15 points.

But for two of our sites, "bumping up" from a 4-star wasn't good enough... they wanted to achieve the 5-star right away! Congratulations to our two newest sites, the Jennings Center and Siegle Avenue, for achieving 5-star ratings!

For more information about the rating system used by the North Carolina Division of Child Development, click here.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Impact Charlotte-The Impact


A couple of weeks ago, 30 or so volunteers came to Bethlehem Center ready to serve as part of Impact Charlotte. We had prayed for no rain, since there were very few projects to be done inside, and instead were greeted with the reverse: 85-degree-plus weather, cloudless skies, and high humidity. The hard thing about times like this is that the kids aren't there, so there are no "kid breaks" and volunteers aren't directly rewarded with hugs.

The volunteers, representing 11 different churches, 9 of which were UMCs, started at 9am and worked until 2pm, some even opting to work through lunch.

The projects that were completed?
  • 3 signs cemented in
  • Digging holes for 4 more signs then cemented in
  • A new flower garden at Southside
  • Prepping of a vegetable garden
  • Trees planted
  • Bird feeders hung
  • Sidewalks cleaned
  • Campbells Soup Labels clipped and sorted
  • Tutor room cleaned out

The group worked hard to serve the children of the Bethlehem Center. We thank these volunteers for all of their hard work.

But more touching, we noticed a "present" left for us as we were locking up that day. It was a note left from Caroline, the 6-year-old daughter of Rev. Tom Schnitzlein, the minister at St. Stephen. We felt like it was the perfect picture of how these volunteers felt about serving that day:

Friday, June 4, 2010

Impact Charlotte

We'll be welcoming friends from the UMC this weekend as part of the city-wide Impact Charlotte. Will you be there?


Friday, January 29, 2010

Join St. Stephen UMW for Soup on Sunday

When: 11:00 AM-1:00 PM
Where: Fellowship Hall at St. Stephen United Methodist in Charlotte, NC

Come enjoy homemade soups, bread, desserts and fellowship!

Donations gladly accepted to benefit Bethlehem Center-Charlotte 2010 Summer Camperships

Friday, January 15, 2010

I'd like to help... now what??

We see many potential volunteers in the office here. Sometimes people have a certain area in mind that they want to help with, and other times the conversation with the volunteer goes something like this... "Put me wherever I am most needed."

We love this attitude, but sometimes it's hard for us to let you know what we need most, because our needs are so great! We want to hear what you can do for the kids. Are you a math whiz? Are you a concert pianist? Are you a certified counselor? Do you have a knack for marketing?

All of these things are needs and desires for the program. But our needs are exhaustive, and we can match your talents with our desires.

But specifically, the two areas that we direct most of our volunteers to are this: tutoring and office help.

So what can you expect for each opportunity?

Tutors are asked to commit to an hour a week for a semester. Some decide to stay longer, some cannot for personal reasons. We will pair you with one student, and you will monitor their progress over the semester and help them where needed. The requirements for this are 18 and over, background check clearance, a love of kids, and a willingness to commit for the desired time. Note: Ability to remember high school math not required, but if you can please let us know. One of the top comments we get during tutor interviews is, "I'm horrible at math!" Keep in mind that we assign tutors by highest need to lowest, and since we do not have a tutor for every child at this point, most tutors are working with children on remedial math and reading.

Office assistants will help with one or all of three offices: the BC main office (for the afterschool program), the development office, or the accounting office. We look for people to serve in this area who have a willingness to jump in and do it all. Volunteers in this area are much needed to help keep our staff costs down and our staff sanity up. Volunteers in the past have done everything from stuffing envelopes, answering phones, scanning in checks, and many other things. Due to the sensitivity and nature of the work being done, we do require a background check and for those volunteers to agree to confidentiality.

But what else do our volunteers do?
  • Resume writing assistance
  • Piano lessons
  • Art classes
  • Holiday parties for the kids
  • Landscaping/outdoor work
  • Event planning
  • Much, much more!

If you're interested in volunteering with us, please call 704-371-7404.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Resident Camp Preparation 2010

It’s hard to believe as we are experiencing 45 degree highs here in Charlotte, that it’s already time to plan for summer camp 2010!

Each year, the Bethlehem Center sends children to Christian resident camps in North Carolina with the help of area churches, board members and the surrounding community. Every year, we provide Bethlehem Center campers with sleeping bags and a duffel bag full of supplies needed for their camp experience. Most of our campers in 2010 are going to camp for the first time, so we are in need of sleeping bags. (Note: once a child attends a resident camp through us and receive a sleeping bag, they do not receive a new one in upcoming years.)

We are requesting completed packages, but will take any donations supplied. Below you will find what is needed in each duffel bag.

Camper Prep for Camp:
o Duffel Bag (generic, no gender specific)
o Sleeping Bag-Plain, No cartoons
o Flashlight and batteries
o Bar soap
o Shampoo
o Conditioner
o 2 hand towels
o 2 bath towels
o 2 face cloths
o Lotion
o Bug repellent
o Sun block
o Toothbrush
o Toothpaste
o Poncho or light rain coat
o Heavy duty comb or brush
o Deodorant
o Bible (optional, but please let us know if your bag does not have one)
o Anything additional is welcomed, but the above are essential

Please place all liquids in a large Ziploc bag for each child. We are hoping to get “packets” of stuff together to make packing of the bags easier and more efficient.

Campers start registering in February, and we will start taking finished bags on March 1st. We would like to have all bags in by April 15th.

If you have any questions, please feel free to call 704-375-1417.