Much love to and from The Children’s Playhouse

A creative play space for families, and a powerful force for community goodness in Boone, North Carolina, USA

After helping my wife Beth Darnell, and her sister Ann Kiefert, their comrade Kathy Parham, and many others from our then-new hometown of Boone, North Carolina, open The Children’s Playhouse in November of 2002, I am very proud to see how Kathy has led the venture in countless ways which continue adding precious dimensions to our community. The video featured here was produced by our friend Beth Jacquot in 2003, and much has happened since then. I invite you to visit the official site www.GoPlayhouse.org and explore the Facebook group, and I also wanted to share news from a recent event that reveals a lot about our community, and Kathy.

In 2009, Mrs. Parham launched an event to honor Boone’s “Hometown Heroes,” wherein she invited locals to nominate others for sustained contributions to the well-being of young children and their families in our area. The first winner of the Great Friend to Families Award was Watauga County Children’s Librarian Judith Winecoff, who designated the $500 prize to go to the Hunger and Health Coalition. Sixteen were nominated, including Cynthia Brown-Greer, Laurie Cimino, Lindsay Cobb, Doug Galke, Kaaren Hayes, Karen James, Natalie Lewis, Karee Mackey, Todd Nolt, Sherrie Norris, Jane Penley, Denise Presnell, Jan Rienerth, Robin Triplett, Mary Willis, and Judith. More information’s available here.

The second annual Great Friend to Families Award event just took place, in honor of Julie Bostick, Kim Carter, Ashley McKinney, Laureen Vilas, Matthew Crawford, Angie Dolen, Shirlee Gaines Edwards, Susan Jones, Kaaren Hayes, Dick and Joan Hearn, Virginia MacLeod, Pat Morgan, Tammy Nelson, Carrington Pertalion, Denise Presnell, Susan Weinberg, Delores Wilder, Roberta Yates, and Joan Zimmerman. Kathy lined up sponsors and arranged for world-renowned author and educator Nikki Giovanni to keynote.

These and other events organized through The Children’s Playhouse also have the goal of raising funds to support family resource services, enabling the children’s museum to provide scholarship memberships to low-income families, to offer free parenting classes for community members, and to build its free lending library of parenting books and developmental toys.

For 2010, The Playhouse’s Great Friend to Families Award goes to Pat Morgan, whose bio includes long-term service to the children and families in the Mabel, Bethel, and Cove Creek through reading at the schools, starting the Reading and Rolling program, which brings books to children who can’t get to the public library, taking limited-income children to visit Washington, DC, and other areas, and serving on the school board for 11 years. Taken by surprise with the win, he decided to give the money to the children’s section of the Watauga County library.

These words from one local volunteer and supporter of the Playhouse speak for many of us:

“To me, it is obvious that an event honoring our hometown heroes has been way overdue. I am glad to say that The Playhouse brought it to life!”

Thank you Kathy!

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Introduction to The Playhouse. Produced by Beth Jacquot. Special thanks to: Playhouse Members, Volunteers, Board Members and the Children, Kathy Parham, Liz Rose, David Thompson, and Joe Murphy. The Children's Playhouse: 400 Tracy Circle, Boone, NC 28607. 1.828.263.0011 http://www.goplayhouse.org