Perry’s Academic and Cultural Enrichment Services (PACES), the before-school and afterschool program for children of Perry’s working parents, will keep its doors open and its lights on for another year thanks to money raised at this year’s annual Lights on Afterschool fundraiser.
With 130 Pre-kindergarten through fifth graders in the program, “the number of students in PACES is about equal to the size of one whole class,” said longtime PACES Director Mary Hillman at Thursday’s 19th annual celebration and fundraiser. “That’s how important PACES is to Perry and to Perry’s working families.”
The program is of “critical importance” to Perry’s young people, Hillman said. It is as if all of Perry Elementary School’s kindergartners or all of Perry High School’s seniors were enrolled in the program and staying on campus from 6 a.m. until 6 p.m. every night.
Nationwide, more than 28 million children have parents who work outside the home, Hillman said, and 15.1 million children in the U.S. have no place to go after school.
That gives a notion how many working parents in Perry rely on PACES to give their children “safe, challenging, engaging and fun learning experiences” at school until the parents get off work, in the words of Perry Mayor John Andorf, who read a proclamation at the 19th annual event.
PACES ensures children are “safe and productive after the regular school day ends,” Andorf proclaimed. The program serves to “engage families, school and diverse community partners in advancing the welfare of our children” and has “provided significant leadership in the area of community involvement in the education and well being of our youth, grounded in the principle that quality afterschool programs are a critical link to helping our children become successful adults,” the mayor said.
Perry Community School District Superintendent Clark Wicks, echoing the mayor’s proclamation, said PACES promotes the critical importance of quality afterschool programs in the lives of children, their families and their communities. Wicks thanked Hillman for sustaining PACES, which receives no school district funding but relies on Hillman’s skills as a grant writer and fundraiser.
Perry Public Library Director Mary Murphy was this year’s guest speaker, and she emphasized the importance of reading to mental independence.
Katy Sowden, outreach coordinator at Blank Children’s Hospital in Des Moines, said Blank has been a partner in Perry’s PACES program for 12 years, providing nutrition and exercise advice in the form of interesting and entertaining programs.
“I always enjoy coming to Perry,” Sowden said, “and partnering with PACES is one of the best decision Blank Children’s Hospital every made.”
Longtime sponsors Iowa Public Television and Forest Park Museum were also thanked by Hillman.
After the adults entertained the children with salutations and proclamations, it was the PACES kids’ turn to entertain the adults with a talent show. Students from each of the seven PACES grades — preschool, kindergarten and first through fifth grade — sang a well-rehearsed song.
Hillman and Site Coordinator Lila Modlin then handed out student awards for the light bulb coloring contest, poster contest and essay contest.
PACES programming is delivered by a dedicated staff of teachers and assistants. Hillman and Modlin work closely with preschool teachers Heather Nelson and Gabby Rummans.
The kindergartners are taught by Marlene Borjas and Haley McCarty, with student assistance from Taylor Bandfield and Annai Perez.
Liz Elliott is the first grade teacher and Mary Lou Ledesma the student assistant.
Kim Taylor teaches the second grade students. She is assisted by Elizabeth Cornejo.
Third graders are taught by Lurdes Ledesma, with help from student assistant Jose Ordonez.
The fourth and fifth grade tacher is Ruth Myers, with Crystal Ruiz and Alexa Zarate assisting.
Esveidy Hernandez is a reliable rover, and Sam Elliott and Lisa Bandfield are substitutes.
Dorothea Peterson — Grandma Pete to the kids — is in her 15th year as a mentor in the foster grandparent program.
A beef burger supper followed the annual celebration of keeping the lights on after school.
