Newsletter Summer 2013

Partners for Success
Miss Ruby’s Kids 2013 Graduation
Miss Ruby’s Kids
31 children and their families celebrated their completion of the two year the Parent-Child
Home Program on May 17, 2013 at the “graduation” ceremeony held at the JB Beck
Administration Building.
Volume 3, Issue 2
Summer 2013
Mission
Miss Ruby’s Kids enables
identified families and caregivers to inspire a passion
for learning in their children.
We help prepare parents to
be their child’s first, best
teacher and support both
parents and child throughout the child’s school career.
Vision
Thank you
Georgetown County School Dirstrict
Piggly Wiggly of Litchfield
Walmart of Georgetown
Kudzu Bakery of Georgetown
Fresh Market of Pawleys Island
Pawleys Island Bakery
Miss Ruby’s Kids’ Staff, Board, and Volunteers
For helping us celebrate this success!
All children in Georgetown
County will enter school prepared to learn, supported by
their families, and will graduate from high school as
productive citizens of their
community.
Parent-Child Learning: A Closer Look
2013 marks the 10th anniversary of Miss Ruby’s Kids, a local replication of the nationwide Parent-Child Home Program
(PCHP), whose origins date back to 1967. Named for Ruby Middleton Forsythe, who operated a one-room school on the
Waccamaw Neck from 1937 until her death in 1992, Miss Ruby’s Kids delivers the PCHP, a research based and supported program developed by the Verbal Interaction Project. Its original thesis – that “children’s best preparation for school is their early
participation in cheerful, casual exchanges of concept-building conversation with their parents at home” – is Miss Ruby’s Kids’s
founding premise.
Planning began in 2002, led by founder Jo Fortuna, her sister Betsy Marlow, and a Steering Committee of volunteer advocates. Once training had been completed for certification by PCHP’s national office, Miss Ruby’s Kids was launched in the
fall of 2003, with three Home Visitors serving five Pawleys Island children and their families.
Ten years later the program sends ten Home Visitors into 60 homes throughout Georgetown County and, in a unique
outreach effort, has shared the program with twelve home-based childcare providers. In addition, we have provided early literacy and parenting workshops. Further outreach occurred when the Miss Ruby’s Kids Board organized the in-school mentoring
effort through which community volunteers work with and support the program’s “graduates.”
Throughout this ten years, Miss Ruby’s Kids has excelled in meeting the standards required by the national program. A
yearly evaluation, in which the national office submits an extensive list of data which must be submitted, is carried out to ensure
that each PCHP operation is demonstrating fidelity to the model. In addition to the annual evaluation, a re-certification site visit
is conducted every five years – 2013 marking the most recent such event. The purpose of this more intensive scrutiny is to determine whether or not the “site” – in this case Miss Ruby’s Kids – is to be re-certified by the national office.
When asked how the site visit interview went, Executive Director Betsy Marlow quoted from the letter she received
from Amy Hamper-Gilmore in the national office:
“Miss Ruby’s Kids is a unique site and is always held up here at the National Center as an example of how
successful an independent Parent-Child Home Program site can be with strong leadership”
A telephone call summed it up nicely: “Miss Ruby’s Kids is Cutting Edge!”
MRK mentee, Morgan Simmons received the
C.B. Dodson Award Principal’s Award for
Brown’s Ferry Elementary School.
A Full Circle of Success
One afternoon last year, the mother of a recent Miss Ruby’s Kids Parent-Child Home Program graduate, Iricia, stopped
by the office to inquire about a mentor for her son. While she was in the office, she heard about the children who were not being served because they were waiting for mentors. Her immediate response was to become a mentor herself. She said, “I believe that education is the key to success. It is our duty as adults to ensure that every child we come in contact with has the educational foundation that they need to be successful. “
Iricia began to mentor one child at Brown’s Ferry Elementary, a school where many children were waiting,
and quickly inquired about helping to influence another child through mentoring. She said when she began
the program, “I didn’t know what to expect…I thought I would [just] ask about school….we have become
more, we are friends. I love them.” Iricia felt compelled to work with kids, she recognized the impact her
Home Visitor had on her life. She realizes the great opportunities for her son when he enrolls in public
school and has his own mentor. Iricia’s motivation is simple but powerful. She lives and believes what
she says, “What better deed can be done than to help a child?”
Garden Party 2013
Thank you to everyone who supported the 2013 Festive Garden Party
in celebration of
Miss Ruby’s Kids 10 year anniversary.
Special thanks to our hosts for their
gracious hospitality
Rich and Caroline Drummond
Generous Donations made this garden party possible
Auctioneer ~ Mr. Joe Exum
Music ~ Latitude & Greg van Allen
Beer ~ Better Brands Myrtle Beach
Wine ~ Peter and Gillian Roy & Litchfield Wine & Liquors
Catering ~ Inlet Affairs Banquet & Catering
Photography ~ Laura Hutto
Decorations ~ Callas Florist & Andrew Deckard
Decorations ~ Barefoot Barista, Inlet Culinary, & The Weathered Nest
Mosquito Treatment ~ Lane’s Pest Control
Tables
~ Georgetown County School District
Corporate Sponsors
Individual Sponsors
Advintage Distributing
Benjamin Moore
Carefree Coastal Living, LLC
Coastal Carolina National Bank
Gasque Insurance Company ~
Allstate Insurance
Georgetown Hospital Systems
GKCU
Harvest Commons on Commerce
International Paper
Jersey Mike’s Subs
Photograph by: The Georgetown Times
Litchfield Books
Palmetto Ace Home Center
Palmetto Heritage Bank & Trust
Sandy & Michael Bonner
Suzanne Christian
Susan & Ron Church
Caroline & Richard Drummond
Jo & Wally Fortuna
Ann & Rick Harris
Judy & Ron Ingle
Libby & Glenn Insley
Janet & Theo Krapels
Eleanor & Delvin Litman
Pat & Wilson Lowery
Clare & Lester Pittman
Hayden & Don Quattlebaum
Jeanne & Michael Quinn
Charlotte & David Van Hoose
Peggy & Bill Wilson
Patrick Wolfe
Pawleys Island Bakery
Individual Benefactors
Peterson Toyota
Nancy Laprade & Keith Bird
Steve & Sara Credito
Carol & Charles Finley
Mary Lou & Peter Gies
Alice & David Gustafson
Nancy Karabacz
Patricia & Chester Kolesa
Joan & Kenneth Kreikemeier
Eleanor Kubeck
Betsy Marlow
Mary Sue & Thomas Molnar
Anne & Larry Mountford
Janice & Leon Rice
Kaye & John Schroeder
Carol & Larry Smith
Sally & Bobby Smith
Claudia & Harold Stowe
Susan & Anthony Tonzola
Celie & Mike Travis
Jill Waring
SCBT
Shayne Matthews,® Realtor ~
The Lachicotte Company
Photograph by: The Georgetown Times
The Stokes Law Firm, LLC
Total Tree Care
Wildes Financial Strategies
Photograph by: The Georgetown Times
Miss Ruby’s Kids
PO Box 1007
Georgetown, SC 29442
NONPROFIT ORG
US POSTAGE PAID
GEORGETOWN SC
PERMIT NO. 100
ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED
Leading Children to Literacy
Miss Ruby’s Kids
P.O. Box 1007
Georgetown, SC 29442
JB Beck Administration Building
2018 Church St.
Georgetown, SC 29440
Phone: 843-436-7197
Fax: 843-436-7196
E-mail: success@missrubyskids.net
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Editoral Team
Graphics
Pixie Kubeck
Nancy Bride
Traci Butler