Success

Jeff Green | May 24, 2007

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"Success by Six"week in KFL&A

by Jeff Green

Frontenac and Lennox and Addington Counties have joined with the City of Kingston in declaring “Success by Six” week from May 26 through June 1.

“Success by Six” was initiated by the KFL&A United Way four years ago “to raise awareness around how important early development is throughout a child’s life” according to United Way President Bhavana Vharma.

Success by Six was developed initially in Minnesota as a way to raise funds or find resources for early childhood development, and has become popular throughout the United States.

“We were very fortunate in KFL&A that everyone stepped right up when we brought it here; from the business community to municipal government, the health unit, and private individuals,” said Vharma.

Success by Six uses specially designated funds raised by the United Way for programs and services that benefit children between 0-6 years, their parents and caregivers. Administrative support from the United Way and the Trillium Foundation enables all of the donations made to Success by Six to flow directly to services.

In rural Frontenac and Lennox and Addington Counties, Success by Six has funded parenting workshops and special programs offered by the Rural VISIONS Centre based in Sydenham, The Ontario Early Years Centre (Sharbot Lake), and Land O’ Lakes Community Services (Northbrook), Pathways for Children and Youth, and Lennox and Addington Children’s Services.

“Research has shown that the early years are the single most important time of life in terms of brain development,” said Bhavana Vharma “and something as simple as a workshop that helps service providers or parents, or making sure that kids get treatment that they need, can make a real difference to a child. A dollar in prevention can save twelve dollars in intervention later on.”

To celebrate “Success by Six” week, a series of events are taking place in Kingston, some of which might be of interest to rural families: including Stars N’ Strollers, family friendly movies at the Cineplex Odeon on Gardiners Road at 1:00 pm on Tuesday May 28; Have a Ball, $2 bowling at Garrison Lanes (CFB Kingston) when adults accompany children 6 and under.

There is also a virtual event, Share Your Moments, an opportunity to talk about special moments spent with children. Parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts are invited to go to successby6ofkfla.com and click on Share Your Moments, where they can tell of a special moment with a child. Prize draws will take place on June 1.

Nominations will also be opening this week for the 1st Annual Success by 6 Child Friendly Business Awards. Nomination forms are available at the above mentioned website for businesses that go out of their way to be child friendly.