WEDNESDAY, APRIL 16, 2008 - MINNEAPOLIS, MN – Chanhassen based Star Foundation and its founder, Paul Taunton, CEO/President of Business Impact Group, a Chanhassen resident, donated over $25,000 to People Serving People’s (PSP) Infant and Toddler Development Center for supplies in order to get the program up and running by May. As part of National Volunteer Week, 10-20 employees from Business Impact Group volunteered their time to assemble cribs, paint murals and accomplish other manual labor projects needed in in order to get the Center ready for the children.
The Star Foundation, who believes in “being responsible by making an impact on the community”, made a huge impact on PSP’s new infant and toddler development center by supplying the majority of funds needed for this project. Because the foundation primarily focuses on the health and improvement of the lives of children, the PSP Infant and Toddler Center was a perfect fit. With their help, PSP can move forward with its plan to open the center by May, fully stocked with all of the supplies in place to care for homeless infants and toddlers.
The PSP Infant and Toddler Center is one division of the Children’s Development Program at PSP that provides early learning care and education for impoverished children. The program honors the developing child through encouraging and guiding social, emotional, intellectual, and physical growth in an environment where the joy of learning is enhanced. PSP supports development based on the premise that quality care, protection and developmentally appropriate education must be interwoven. Understanding that children live in a diverse and complex world, teachers strive to integrate a multi-cultural, anti-biased approach to curriculum planning.
People Serving People’s Development Center for Infants and Toddlers is part of a wide range of services and programs that PSP offers homeless children and families. Because of the demand for child care at the shelter and the fact that the average age of a guest at PSP is just seven years old, PSP is expanding Children’s Services to support the growing need by implementing this infant and toddler center. The face of homelessness at PSP is the face of a child. The new center is scheduled to open on May 1, 2008.
People Serving People is a community-based, family-focused homeless shelter, housing more than 300 people each night. Over half of the people staying at PSP are children. PSP has 21 collaborative agencies on-site to provide health care, education, medical services, job training and more to the children and families residing here.
Posted 04/21/2008