A Note from our Executive Director
Dear friend,
Can you believe it has been a year since schools closed and we began to shelter in place? The second week of March 2020 was a week like no other. Every day the news changed, events were being cancelled, plans were changing by the hour.
On March 13, 2020, we made the decision to close our Children’s Center and to instruct all employees to work from home. We thought it would just be for two weeks, maybe three. 52 weeks later, we have moved from crisis to a new normal.
We have learned to care for very young children while wearing masks. We have learned how to conduct webinars, rather than public forums. We have filled gaps so that children and families have enough food, have safe places to study, have access to reliable information. We have learned to pivot, and rethink, and consider deeply what are our core values, and what unique gifts must we share with our community. I continue to be both proud of and humbled by the tremendous work of our IVYP staff. Truly, we are caring for our community.
I hope that in the next few months, we will shift again. I know that some things have changed forever – and even for the better. Zoom is here to stay. But, in other areas, we will learn another new normal. Our local public schools will re-open, but our work will be different. We’ll see more demand for childcare, but we will still need to maintain social distancing. Eventually, we will receive vaccines. And, I am confident that with your help and support, we will be able to weather the challenges that the future will inevitably bring.
Thank you.
Lori Goodman
Executive Director
