To the entire North Central Parenting Group community:

WELCOME! We are so excited to have you all with us as we kick off our 36th year of NCPG!  

These past several months have been filled with challenges and uncertainties for families everywhere! Despite the numerous hardships, one cannot deny the shift in perspective and a deepened sense of gratitude for so many of us.  While we may be living in an ever-changing time, one constant remains - we are in this together! As parents, we need NCPG now more than ever! We are here and committed to supporting and caring for one another, whether in-person or virtually, and our NCPG Family will be stronger for it! 

There is no question that this is a messy time in all of our lives, so please be reassured that you are not alone in the challenges you face. We encourage you to please COME AS YOU ARE! This organization is so special because of the intimate and safe environment so carefully cultivated by our predecessors. Although the 2020-2021 NCPG year presents its own challenges, your Board has been hard at work over the summer preparing for a great year of learning, growing, friendship, and fun - no matter the circumstances! We have a wonderful, albeit different, lineup planned full of opportunities for you to continue to grow connections within this community. 

We will initially be resuming classes in a Virtual Learning Environment (via Zoom) with the hope of returning to in-person classes once our community COVID-19 benchmark's have consistently been met and our meeting facility, Saint Barnabas on the Desert, has reopened to groups. The church is currently closed, but we are very hopeful that they will reopen and that we can return soon. We held a virtual teacher orientation this year which included Zoom training so our wonderful teachers are well-versed in successful and effective virtual meetings. All NCPG instructors have been provided with Zoom memberships for conducting virtual classes, in a consistent manner organization-wide, at the time and date of our regularly scheduled classes. See the full 2020-2021 Class Schedule here. Your instructor will be communicating with you directly to provide your class syllabus and any relevant materials prior to our first class on Wednesday, September 9 at 9:45am. 

We're excited to share our awesome Member Swag Bag for this year and invite you to join us and grab yours at our drive-through Coffee & Doughnut Pick-up Event on Saturday, October 3 between 8-9am. Stay tuned for details and location information soon! 

We are thrilled to announce that we will be hosting multiple All-Class Guest Speakers this year, as a supplement to your individual classes, as well! Our first speaker will be Dr. Angela Veesenmeyer, a board certified Pediatrician and Pediatric Infectious Disease physician in Phoenix, speaking on "COVID + Kids" Wednesday, October 21  at 10am. More details are forthcoming! 

Additionally, we've welcomed a few New Teachers to our impressive roster, so please help us in welcoming: Chelsea Kunde (Class 3A), Emma Porter (Class 4A), and Jennette Zander (Pre-K/Junior Kindergarten). We are so glad to have them all along with our wonderful returning NCPG instructors. 

THANK YOU in advance for your continued participation, support, and commitment. We are all fortunate to be a part of this amazing community, and right now this community needs you. It is our greatest hope that NCPG will continue to serve parents in our community long after this pandemic passes. In order for this to be possible, we will need everyone's understanding (and advocacy) as we navigate the current obstacles that are simply outside of our control. Although we are not able to start our meetings in-person, we are working closely with our Social and Special Events Directors to think outside of the box and come up with creative and fun ways for us to stay connected during this unique time. While we do not know what the future holds, we are committed to providing valuable resources and support to our members in the safest way possible.

Lastly, thank you for the great honor of serving as your President for a second year! To the entire 2020-2021 NCPG Board, thank you for your commitment and hard work this summer. I am forever grateful for the opportunity to learn from and volunteer alongside such strong women. To our NCPG Members, there are many ways to get involved in NCPG, and it's never too early to start thinking about a Board position for next year.  If you are interested or have questions about getting involved, please do not hesitate to reach out to me personally. Our shared goal for our 2020-2021 NCPG Board of Directors is to be as transparent and inclusive as possible, and we sincerely appreciate your support and welcome your feedback. While we are faced with new challenges due to COVID-19, I am confident that we will make this our best year yet! 

If you have any questions or would like more specifics on anything, please email me any time. Please know your flexibility and understanding during this time is greatly appreciated. We will be in contact with any additional updates and details as they are available. Sending you and yours all my best for continued health and happiness! Stay well! xo

Best regards, 

Megan Garvey

NCPG President 2019-2021

[email protected]