CommUnify Chosen as 2024 Beneficiary for K-LITE’s Valentine’s Day Radio-thon
All Funds Raised to Support Building Outdoor Classrooms at Head Start Locations
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Valentine’s Day is all about LOVE. Love for a partner. Love for family and friends. Love for children. What better way is there to show love than to help provide the most at-risk families in our community with a free, high quality, educational foundation, childcare, and parenting classes? The love exhibited by this commitment and generosity expresses a positivity and enthusiasm for the future, and for putting these children on the path to success.
The staff and Board of Directors for CommUnify (formerly Community Action Commission/CAC) in partnership with K-LITE’sGary & Catherine in the Morning, are pleased to announce CommUnify’s Head Start Early Education program has been selected the 2024 beneficiary for K-LITE’s annual Valentine’s Day Radio-thon. Proceeds raised will go towards transforming outdoor areas into nature and science-oriented outdoor classrooms. The K-LITE
Radio-thon airs February 14th from 6:00am until 6:00pm on 101.7 FM and streams live at https://www.klite.com/news/listen-live/. Dating back 20 years, the Radio-thon has always benefitted a nonprofit that promotes youth services in Santa Barbara County; past recipients have included Storyteller Children’s Center, American Heart Association, Daniel Bryant Youth and Family Center, Santa Barbara Symphony, and more. Beginning at 6:00am on Valentin’s Day, Gary & Catherine will broadcast live for 12 hours taking requests for love songs and dedications. Listeners who wish to make a dedication to a loved one should call the studio request line at 805.879.5483 and make a suggested minimum donation of $25 in support of CommUnify’s Head Start program.
“We are thrilled to have chosen CommUnify’s Head Start Program as this year’s nonprofit organization for the K-LITE Radio-thon,” said Catherine Remak and Gary Fruin, Co-Hosts of Gary & Catherine in the Morning which airs on K-LITE 101.7 FM weekdays 5:30 – 10:00am. “In a time when childcare expenses rank only second to the cost of housing in our community,CommUnify has provided excellent early childhood education free of charge to those who need it most for the past 56 years. We are happy to support them in their efforts to transform their outdoor spaces by bringing more interaction with nature, science, and the environment into the children’s daily experience.”
CommUnify oversees 23 Head Start locations throughout Santa Barbara County which serve eligible families with children as young as infants up until they can attend transitional kindergarten (TK) at a local elementary school in their neighborhood. In addition to an exceptional education, Head Start provides these children with socialization, healthy lunch and snacks, and parenting classes and other support for the entire family. Education trends have veered towards experiential, STEAM-based learning, and Head Start’s goal to build outdoor classrooms will provide new and exciting hands-on experiences and learning opportunities for both students and staff alike in alignment with these new objectives. Some of the activities could include raising butterflies, growing fruit and vegetable gardens, exploring nature, and discovering about the weather.
“CommUnify is grateful to Gary and Catherine and everyone at K-LITE for the service they’ve provided for many years by raising awareness of the remarkable work done by nonprofits in our community,” said Patricia Keelean, CEO for CommUnify. “With so many deserving organizations in Santa Barbara County, we are honored to be chosen as this year’s Radio-thon beneficiary. The funding raised through this ‘loving’ effort will make a tremendous impact on our Head Start locations by helping us to expand the learning experience to include nature and the outdoor environment, thus providing additional educational opportunities for the children and families we serve, who may not otherwise have the chance.”
For a complete description of CommUnify’s programs and services please visit www.CommUnifySB.org. Please contact Joni Kelly, Communications Manager for CommUnify at 805-964-8857 ext. #1109 or via email jkelly@CommUnifySB.org for more information about the Head Start program, to request high-resolution images, or to arrange interviews with Patricia Keelean, Chief Executive Officer for CommUnify. To make a song request, dedication, and donation please call 805.879.5483 between 6am and 6pm on Wednesday, February 14, 2024.