EXEMPLARY PROJECTS AT SACRED SPACES (cont.)
The Kinder Academy program at Bustleton United
Methodist Church has long been equally responsive
to children with special needs and their families,
mainstreaming them into the classroom and
accommodating their aides or individual assistants. With
15 years experience in child care, Spina knows how to
help parents with special-needs children navigate the
bureaucratic maze and learn what services the state offers
them. Her base at the congregation gives her a willing
volunteer network to tap into as well. When Nicole’s son
Caleb was struggling with reading in school, Spina quickly
arranged for an after-school tutor, a volunteer from the
church, at no extra charge.
The Butterflies group waits for lunch.
reuse of the church’s underused space by repainting,
restructuring and retrofitting old auditoriums and
screening rooms at Bustleton United Methodist Church
to serve as bright yellow classrooms for “Caterpillars”
and “Butterflies,” the oldest preschoolers. At Bustleton,
the center and church co-exist in a mutually beneficial
(and mutually dependent) relationship. Several in the
aging congregation volunteer their time as tutors or
donate art supplies. One congregant, Al—better known to
the children and staff as “Pop-Pop”—serves as resident
tinkerer and fix-it man. “This is what a retro-fitted
program looks like,” says Spina, waving her hand down
a corridor of rooms that perform double-duty nights
and weekends for Sunday School, scout troops, and AA
meetings. “It’s more about the families [than the facility].
We make connections with the families.”
For Nicole Spellman, that connection continues to make
a difference in her children’s lives. Now 7 and 9, Chloe
and Caleb still start their day at Bustleton’s day care so
Nicole can get to work at 8:00. And when she picks them
up there at the end of her work day, she often lingers with
them at the center, making sure all homework is done
before they go home, where there are television and other
distractions. Besides, laughs Nicole, “they always seem to
have the supplies – those glue sticks and scissors – I can
never seem to find at home.”
With many more families suffering economically, the
Bustleton Day Care Center has gone well beyond what
Keystone STARS requires. Enrollment has dropped, and
Spina is concerned that children are being placed in
sub-standard care or sitting home watching television.
She understands that parents find themselves in a bind.
Without work, they can’t afford child care; without child
care, they can’t look for a job. The free half-day drop-off
service Spina offered to Nicole Spellman four years ago has
become standard for enrolled families whose parents have
job interviews.
9 • Sacred Places • www.sacredplaces.org • Fall