For sure, the very best is that my Grand Nephew Danny Medary returned home safely from Iraq.    Congressman Chris Smith arranged for a flag to be flown above the capital in honor of his Grandfather, George Medary, a World War II Veteran and Purple Heart recipient and his Grandson, Iraq Vet Danny Medary.  It was sent to me to present to George.  What a treasure.

Tied for best,  the staff and Board earned the status of NAEYC accreditation for Better Beginnings.  What a simple sentence that is, but it contains within it months of observations, extra work, stress, anxiety, workshops, loads of paper handling, etc.  The status is well-deserved.  Visitors, too, often comment on the loving, nurturing, happy atmosphere in which our young students are learning and growing.  Congratulations to all are a factor- staff, board, families, children, donors, contributors, friends, advocates …

Another incredible milestone is that Better Beginnings has reached its 40th year of existence, through the caring, loving support of its community, the many donors and contributors, friends, advocates, its local governments, our host -the First Presbyterian Church and others in the religious community, the United Way, the county government, the state and federal appropriations, the police departments, as well as its faithful faculty and board

The Celebration began with the first “Day of Caring for Better Beginnings” in which local merchants participated in numerous ways to give support to our non-profit.   It was so much fun; I hope it becomes an annual event.  We will culminate with (mark the date) the Mayors’ Shining Star Ball on March 24.

The incredible everlasting ongoing generosity of so many friends throughout the year, manifest at the holidays, but with us throughout, without whom, our survival would have been unlikely.

Bad swirled around me, such as the untimely death of Kirsten Greenwood, threats made to our schools, violence persisting in the world, wars and hunger persist, disease runs rampant, other

When I saw Mrs. Gerald Ford at the funeral, I exclaimed “Look how beautiful Betty Ford still is!”  She helped so many women to 1) face their addictions and 2) be honest in facing and battling breast cancer,  recognizing how important early detection is.  She is purely a beautiful human being.

I wondered if she resents the name of the show, “Ugly Betty”.   Probably not, but I do.  I try to think if I would resent it as much if the show was named “Ugly Marie” or “Ugly Barbara”.  I think I would, almost.

I agree with Liston Abbott who states in his article in our recent newsletter, “Better Beginnings Cares”, about the “N” word, its use is “demeaning and vulgar, not funny”.  I think this is true of any word that is used to degrade another human.  I think that war is ugly, that bullying is ugly, that violence in any form is ugly.  I think that some words are ugly.  But … every human being is beautiful.  Like the song from the sixties says, “Everyone is beautiful, in their own way."

One of the ways in which we are celebrating and appreciating the opportunity we have had to serve this community for forty years, the ability given to us by this community, its government, its religious and other organizations, its members, our friends, is to publish a monthly newsletter.   We are hoping to be able to publish articles from others about happenings and events that occurred during those forty years.  We hope to catch up with and report on people from the past, friends, graduates, etc. 

is delighted with the latest addition to our local not-for-profit world, namely Greater Goods.   What a concept, save money on a variety of items while helping others at the same time.  Congratulations to all who put so much hard work into the venture, and

great good luck for the future.

Of course you know that the Pincher saved every scrap of pretty wrapping paper she could.   It is useful for a variety of art projects, scissor practice, even re-using

We are adapting for our curriculum the “Six Pillars of Character” developed by the Josephson Institute and available at charactercounts.org.  We are now offering a series through our week-end interactive “FunWork” to families and children.  This week-end, the Pillar is “Fairness” and the trait therein is “Playing by the Rules”.   For one activity, to show the importance of

following all rules, including traffic rules, we are asking them to draw a traffic light, and to use it to play a developmentally appropriate form of “Red Light Green Light”.   We also like the pre-literacy scope of this because the young student is also experiencing the circle, identifying colors,, and enjoying physical activity.

Our donors and contributors through this period have been many, including Christmas presents for the children from Weichert Realtors, McGraw Hill Companies, United Way of Greater Mercer County, NAI Global delivered by dear old Santa, escorted festively by the Hightstown Police Department with lights blazing and sirens blaring.

Customs that continued which also helped to make the season bright for our families Hightstown B.P.O.E. Elks 1955 continued their custom of providing certificates to a local supermarket, the Dutch Neck Co-Op Nursery School collected and provided warm hats, gloves and scarves for the children;  the Hightstown High School African American Club (Merion Wells, Counselor) provided beautiful pine cone ornaments, cookies and juice; Frances Rios and Mildred Bell gave children’s books, the Junior Friday Club (Sharon Lane) brought homemade cookies and candy.

Generous contributions were made by Janet Huet, Torrington & Judith Watkins, Norman & Judith Nahmias. Deb Napolitano & Dodie Colavecchio (who also remembered that we are still collecting pennies, John & Beverly Fiore, Marianne MacNamara, Wilfred & Ondina Jeffers, Carol Sprout, Cranbury United Methodist Church Women, Barbara McDonald, as well as Liston & Joyce Abbott.

Perennial friend, Harry Horowitz, provided a special treat for everyone with pizza for everyone.  The children were so excited

and overjoyed, that, were they not so courteous, would have been standing on their heads.

The faculty was handsomely and very generously remembered by Dennis McClary as well as Drs. David &Celia Abalos, with enjoyable luncheon provided by Luis Ortiz of ExpOrtiz Professional Cleaning Service.

Other generous donations of toys, food, cards, books, a microwave, games, compute and scanner and more came from Mrs. Evvy Flammer, Jesse Rosen, Harriet Cramer Edward Kilbourne, Dennis McClary, Delores Murphy, Robby & Maggie Pollard, Harriet Cramer, Kiran Raval,Teresa Vasquez, Peter Wilson, “Mr. Jonathan” Craig and Diane Zellner.

To top it all off, friends remembering that we are multicultural, with many of our families celebrating Three Kings Day in January, Patrice Rice donated her collection of Beanie Babies, while Linda Trost, as well as the East Windsor Senior Center contributed activities books, videos, paper and art materials.

We are fortunate to have such a wonderful community and good friends, treating our children so well by first of all assuring that they have a safe and caring learning center to be a part of and secondly making sure that their days, holidays especially, are merry and bright.

Thank you, and have a wonderful year.