leelanau childrens center

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Leelanau Children’s Center raises $127,185, opens 50th year

The Leelanau Children’s Center raised $127,185 at its annual Leelanau Grown: Feast & Fundraiser, held July 21 at Aurora Cellars Estate venue. More than 150 friends and supporters attended the evening, which benefits LCC’s Financial Aid Program and marks the opening of the organization’s 50th year of service. LCC’s Financial Aid Program funds the gap between what families pay in tuition and the actual cost of care. LCC serves three- and four-year-olds, funded by tuition or, for children turning four by December 1, by the state’s free Great Start Readiness Program.

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Glen Lake Library holds Kids’ Holiday Book Drive

A special holiday tradition continues on Nov. 14 as the Friends of the Glen Lake Community Library kick off their annual call for children’s books. The Friends are once again collecting donations of new children’s books for children whose families are in need of assistance this holiday season. Donors are asked to purchase a book for a child on this list and deliver it gift-wrapped to the library by Dec. 13. The Cottage Book Shop will provide a 20% discount on any books purchased for the drive. They will even gift wrap and deliver the books for you.

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Friends of Glen Lake Library hold children’s holiday book drive

A Special Holiday Tradition continues on Nov. 15 as the Friends of the Glen Lake Library kick off their annual call for children’s books. The Friends are once again collecting donations of new children’s books for those whose families are in need of assistance this holiday season. Any family can find themselves in hard times and the goal is to make sure the children still have some holiday joy in the form of a special book. The list is compiled from Glen Lake Elementary School, Parenting Communities, The Benodjenh Child Center, Leelanau Children’s Center and Family Daycare Homes and is available at the Glen Lake Library in Empire and at the Cottage Book Shop in Glen Arbor.

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Innovative childcare program expands in Leelanau

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One year ago the Leelanau Early Childhood Development Commission launched a campaign to recruit more people to open home-based childcare facilities in Leelanau County—where a dire lack of affordable childcare options has imperiled the ability of young parents to return to work. The commission is well on its way to reach that goal, with three more facilities set to open soon. But the LECDC has also been forced to pivot and work with the state’s licensing agency to include centers outside the home, as well.

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Solving Leelanau’s Child Care Crisis

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For families lucky enough to be on her roster, Rhonda Mack’s home near Lake Leelanau is an ideal safe and nurturing place to leave their young children during the workday. Many more families are stuck in limbo, unable to find affordable childcare for infants and toddlers. The crisis is particularly acute in rural areas. Mack’s business is a model that the Leelanau County Early Childhood Development Commission (LECDC) hopes will inspire at least four or five more home-based childcare businesses to launch during 2022. This month LECDC kicks off a multipronged campaign to recruit others to set up their own home-based child care facilities.

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Op-Ed: Vote ‘Yes’ for Leelanau County Early Childhood Development

A powerful opportunity awaits Leelanau voters on Nov. 5. The Leelanau County Commission, in a bi-partisan vote, is offering voters the opportunity to make a significant difference for families raising young children and to entice young families to move to the County. Because, healthy resilient families are the backbone of a thriving community.

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Michelle Ferrarese’s love of the farm

“I didn’t grow up farming. Farming wasn’t even on my radar, though we always had a garden where we lived in the suburbs,” begins Michelle Ferrarese, owner, farmer and prime motivator of Birch Point Farm, located between Lake Leelanau and Bugai Road, northwest of Traverse City.

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Protecting Our Own

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The meals, the donations, the hugs kept arriving—from neighbors, from friends, from the community at large. The door never stopped opening and the telephone never stopped ringing for an immigrant family who has lived in Leelanau County for nearly two decades but faced the specter early this spring of being torn apart by the politics of U.S. immigration enforcement.

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