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Phase II (Continued)

Stephen Renfroe of Chevron joined children at Gautier Academy in Gautier (Jackson County), Miss., to celebrate the reopening of the center. Chevron contributed $500,000 and in-kind materials and labor to repair and equip 39 child care facilities in Jackson County, where it has a refinery. (Chevron)

The W. K. Kellogg Foundation quickly responded to the ECI plan, committing $1.25 million to the Rebuilding After Katrina Project and contributing another $300,000 subsequently. Thanks to the Kellogg Foundation’s contribution, ECI was able to recruit a director, Connie Clay, for the project; strengthen its Early Childhood Atlas team; provide administrative support for a new relief coalition, Embrace Mississippi’s Children; and invest significant resources in the Gulf Coast Child Care Resource and Referral Agency. Gail McClure, the foundation’s vice president for programs, said, “The Kellogg Foundation is pleased to be able to make this grant to the Mississippi State University Early Childhood Institute to help with the needs of young children and their families following the Katrina devastation in the Gulf area. It is our hope that the diverse and dedicated individuals and organizations working with the institute will be able to meet some of the most pressing needs of families with young children in the Gulf area as well as lay the foundation for a strengthened early education and care system statewide.”

Other organizations and individuals made additional contributions for the recovery of child care facilities. (See “Major Donations for Rebuilding After Katrina.”) Several organizations in the state formed a new coalition, Embrace Mississippi’s Children, to lead a grassroots fundraising effort for damaged child care facilities. ECI recruited Lynn Darling, Ph.D., of Tupelo as a volunteer coordinator for Embrace; arranged with First United Methodist Church of Tupelo, Miss., to accept monetary donations; and found temporary warehouse space in the Tupelo Furniture Market. Guided by early childhood leaders who experienced the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995, ECI and the MSU Extension Service prepared “wish lists” of books and materials that Embrace would accept. ECI hosted a web site for the project and issued e-mail alerts to announce the new giving opportunity. From across the country, individuals, organizations, and even children, families, and staffs of child care facilities responded, sending tons of materials and approximately $128,000 in monetary gifts. By March 31, 2006, Embrace had distributed kits of new, developmentally appropriate teaching materials to dozens of centers in six counties.

Chevron executives, advised by Stephen Renfroe of the Chevron Refinery at Pascagoula, determined in September that the corporation should itself pay for repairs and reconstruction of child care facilities that served Jackson County. The corporation reassigned some of its own construction crews to child care repairs and made a financial commitment of $500,000 for the work, donating the reconstruction funds through a local nonprofit organization, Rebuild Jackson County, and coordinating repairs with ECI. ECI paired Chevron’s expenditures for facility repair and furnishings with materials worth hundreds or thousands of dollars per center.
(See “Major Donations for Rebuilding After Katrina.”)

Phase II Continued

 

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