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December 2025
Newsletter
| | | Critchlow Adkins Children's Centers' mission is to provide quality, financially accessible childcare for children and their families in a nurturing, diverse, safe, and enriching environment. | | |
Wrapping Up A Winter-ful December! | |
Our classrooms have been full of learning, laughter, and love this month as we closed out our 55th year of providing exceptional, affordable, and educational care on the Mid-Shore! We are infinitely grateful for everything you do for our students and their families. Thank you for giving our children the resources to Build Brighter Futures!
Please watch the video below for a few December highlights!
| | Look At What We've Been Up To! | | Winter fun was the name of the game this month... Scroll down to read about how each site celebrated this joyous time of year! | | |
Cordova Site
There was a flurry of activity at our Cordova Site! The preschoolers made ornaments to decorate the classroom tree and had a special story time visit from Board Member Cindy Orban. In the school-age classrooms, students conducted a blubber experiment to learn how winter animals keep warm and created lots of festive crafts. Ms. Karen even stopped by for some year-end yoga!
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White Marsh Site (Trappe)
The school-age students at our White Marsh Site are ready for winter! During Shiny Sparkles week, they did a “snowstorm in a bottle” experiment, created snowflake and paper chain garland crafts, and welcomed the return of the ever-mischievous Topper the Elf. In the preschool class, our littlest learners went on an artistic adventure, making mini masterpieces in many mediums. They finished off the lesson by turning the classroom into an art museum and inviting family and friends to admire their work. Jump Start with the Arts also stopped by for a super fun music session during which the children made up their own silly songs and danced along!
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Preschool Site (Easton)
At our Easton Preschool Site, our smallest scholars immersed themselves in holidays from cultures around the world! They made handprint menorahs and latkes to celebrate Hannukkah, crafted lanterns for the Chinese New Year, made Kinaras for Kwanzaa, and decorated Christmas sugar cookies!
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St. Michaels Site
Our St. Michaels Site brought tons of festive joy to the 34th annual Christmas in St. Michaels! This beloved holiday tradition was started to raise funds to establish our St. Michaels Site. All these years later, it has blossomed into a weekend-long festival that helps provide financial assistance to many organizations serving the Bay Hundred community each year. Staff, students, and volunteers worked as a team to put together a beautiful peppermint-themed float, and then gathered to ride together in the parade. Special thanks to the float’s driver, Dondray Whiting, and Kristan Green, who was instrumental in assembling this year’s float!
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School Age Site (Easton)
Our Easton School Age Site was a winter wonderland! Students explored winter weather, winter animals, and the upcoming holidays. They especially enjoyed exploring how different animals stay warm and find food during the cold months. Our friends from the Easton High School Interact Club also visited, along with our Program and Outreach Specialist, Amy Michels. They had an arctic blast leading our kids in a snowman STEAM activity!
| | Follow us on Facebook to get your Friday fix of cuteness with our Weekly Round Up! | | | | | |
Congratulations to Executive Director Cristy Morrell and School Age Site Director Keieve Colbert, who recently completed highly respected leadership programs focused on strengthening communities across Maryland and the Eastern Shore.
Cristy graduated from Leadership Maryland, an eight-month, hands-on experience that brings together senior leaders from across the state to explore the issues shaping Maryland’s future. Cristy was one of just 51 participants selected for the Class of 2025 and now joins a statewide alumni network of more than 1,600 leaders committed to making a meaningful impact in their communities.
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Keieve celebrated her graduation from Shore Leadership. Shore Leadership brings together leaders from across the Eastern Shore to deepen their understanding of the region’s challenges and opportunities, while building strong, collaborative relationships.
We could not be prouder of Cristy and Keieve. Their dedication to learning and growing as leaders mirrors what we strive to offer the children in our care every day. Their commitment strengthens our organization and, ultimately, the families and communities we serve.
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Thank you to Shapers, Warrington Builders, and Bicky and Dan Warrington for hosting their annual Poinsettia Sale!
This festive fundraiser helps spread holiday cheer while supporting the families in our programs.
We so appreciate the time, effort, and passion that the Warringtons invest in this event each year. Thank you to everyone who purchased their poinsettias! Your support means the world to us. Each dollar raised helps build brighter futures for local children and their families!
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We are deeply grateful to the Church of the Holy Trinity for their generous monetary donation and the wagon full of toys for our students! Their kindness brings joy to so many children during this special season.
The Church of the Holy Trinity has supported Critchlow Adkins for many years, and we are truly thankful for their continued commitment to our mission. Thank you for helping our students learn, grow, and shine!
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In addition to the generous support of our neighbors, we are honored to partner with dozens of local businesses, community partners, and grant partners to provide the highest quality care for our families. As the saying goes, it takes a village to raise a child, and our village is extraordinary!
As we close out another year of caring and community, we want to shine a spotlight on two groups that have made an enormous impact on our organization in 2025: our Grant Partners and our Diamond Star Business Partners.
Our fervent thanks go out to these groups and all of our amazing partners for their commitment to making a difference in our community!
Scroll to the bottom of this email for a full list of all of our partners.
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We are thrilled to introduce you to Keontae Murray, a former Critchlow Adkins parent, who has dedicated herself to helping make the holidays merry and bright for the families at our St. Michaels Site!
Keontae is a native of Talbot County. She lives in Royal Oak with her daughter and their pet bunny, Karson. She has been a clinical social worker in special education for 19 years, and is also a certified level 1-6 All-Star Cheer Coach.
Keontae's daughter attended Critchlow Adkins from 2 to 8 years old, and Keontae says the St. Michaels Site played a huge part in her early learning and development.
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To give back, Keontae has been supplying the St. Michaels Site Santa Store for the past 4 years. Her donations pack the store with fun gifts that our students and their families can purchase for one another. It not only helps to spread joy to our families, but raises money that the site is able to use for special needs, projects, or activities.
We asked Keontae what inspires her to support Critchlow Adkins. She shared, "I love that it is family oriented and focuses on the development and well-being of young children. My plan is to supply the Santa Store as long as I am able to! Christmas is my favorite holiday and the Santa Store is such a fun activity to help bring joy into the lives of the students and staff at Critchlow Adkins."
We are so grateful for Keontae and her big heart - she is a valued member of the Critchlow Adkins family!
| | Your Kindness Is The Gift We Treasure The Most! | | | |
Our deepest thanks go out to each and every person who has made a year-end donation in support of our mission. YOUR GENEROSITY MAKES OUR WORK POSSIBLE!
For those still considering donating, there is time remaining to give in 2025. This may be important if you are contemplating a gift with potential tax consequences, such as a Charitable Donation from your IRA or a gift of appreciated stock or other securities.
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There are so many ways YOU can change lives!
Giving is as easy as 1-2-3!
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Mail your gift to:
Critchlow Adkins
Children's Centers
15 S. Hanson Street
Easton, MD 21601
| | Make a one-time or recurring online donation. | | |
Donate Stock/Securities
Charles Schwab
DTC# 0164 | Code 40
Easton Daycare Centers
Account #5028-3304
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4. Take your Required Minimum Distribution from your IRA as a Charitable Distribution to Critchlow Adkins.
5. Give a grant from your Donor Advised Fund or Personal Foundation.
Use our EIN: 23-7404362
6. Join our 1970 Society by remembering us in your Estate Plans.
| | A December STEAM Project YOU Can Do At Home! | | |
This month, the students at many of our sites decorated delicious gingerbread houses. We're taking inspiration from this classic holiday activity for our this month's STEAM Challenge.
As always, we love a good book to put us in the STEAM spirit! Our December recommendation is The Plan For The Gingerbread House, by Darcy Pattison.
| | | | This story is about a team of children who try to build the perfect gingerbread house for a contest, but face and overcome engineering challenges like burnt cookies, thin icing, and a collapsing structure. They learn perseverance and to learn from their mistakes, and despite initial failures, they successfully build a prize-winning house by revising their plan. | | |
After reading, it's time to put on your engineering caps and gather your supplies. All you'll need for this simple project is pipe cleaners and straws. Your challenge is to work together (or have a friendly family competition) to build a house using only these two materials.
Insert pieces of pipe cleaners into the ends of straws, bending the pipe cleaners to form “corners” and attaching more straws to form walls, rooftops, windows and doors of a house. Special tip: you can fit up to 3 pipe cleaner pieces into a straw!! For added fun, you can cut, color and tape on paper to form the outside of the house – making it look like a gingerbread house!
Click here for straw house inspiration from Frugal Fun 4 Boys and Girls!
| | As always, be as creative as you want, and have lots of fun learning together! Visit our website for hundreds of additional STEAM activities you can do at home! | | Support Critchlow Adkins While Shopping! | | Connect your Harris Teeter VIC card to Critchlow Adkins via the Together in Education Program, and when you purchase the brands listed below, you help earn money to support our programs! | | If you are a Weis Market customer, scan the bar code below at checkout to help Critchlow Adkins earn funds for supplies, programs, and more! | | Thank You To Our Critchlow Adkins Community and Business Partners! | | |
Grant Partners
Bryan Brothers Foundation
Christmas in St. Michaels
Christ Church St. Michaels Parish
Church of the Holy Trinity Episcopal Church Women
Dock Street Foundation
Fullwood Foundation
Maryland State Department of Education
Mid-Shore Community Foundation
Rotary Club of Easton
Rural Maryland Council
St. John Foundation
St. Mark's United Methodist Church
Talbot County Health Department
Talbot Optimists Club
USDA Rural Development
Van Strum Foundation
Whole Kids Foundation
Women & Girls Fund of the Mid-Shore
Philip A Zaffere Foundation
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Academy Art Museum
Adkins Arboretum
Appleseed Books
Boy Scouts of America
Candlelight Cove
Carepacks of Talbot County
Chesapeake Bay Environmental Center
Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum
Chesapeake College
Choptank Community Health
Cordova Fire Station
Eastern Shore Speech Therapy
Easton Cinemas
Easton Volunteer Fire Department
Emily's Produce
Environmental Concern
Family Affair Farm
For All Seasons
Girl Scouts of America
Healthy Talbot
Imagination Library of Talbot County
Judy Amdur Music
Judy Center Early Learning Hubs
Jump Start With The Arts
Lion's Club
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Kiln Born Creations
Maryland Zoo
Pickering Creek Audubon Center
Police, Fire, and EMS Departments
Positive Strides Therapeutic Riding
Project Right Steps
Ready at Five
SOS Sink or Swim
Society of St. Vincent de Paul
St. Michaels Community Center
Talbot County:
Health Department
Infants and Toddlers
Oral Health Department
Parks and Recreation
Public Schools
Talbot County Free Library
Talbot Family Network
Talbot Humane
Talbot Interfaith Shelter
Talbot Thrive
University of Maryland Extension
US Armed Forces
4-H Club
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Critchlow Adkins is so fortunate to have generous support from our local business community. Meet our CACC Stars!
*For more information on how YOU can become a CACC Star, click HERE or contact our Development Director, Liz Connelly, at lconnelly@cacckids.org.
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Ball Greenhouses
Benson and Mangold Real Estate
Brambles Electric
Carpenter Street Saloon
Chesapeake Blooms
Chic-fil-A
Coventry Motor Works
Crackerjacks
Dairy Queen of Denton
Dragonfly Boutique
Easton Music Academy
L. Lucke Designs
Moore Funeral Home
PeachBlossoms Events
RLE LLC
Salt & Light Entertainment
Vintage Family Farms
What's Good, LLC
Windswept Clothiers
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Licensed Maryland Childcare Providers
Cordova - 45445
Easton Preschool - 31291
Easton School Age - 31294
St. Michaels - 31292
White Marsh - 53488
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