By Jennifer Landrieu, Director

The North Branch Reformed Church Preschool has offered a quality early childhood education program to our surrounding communities for 57 years. We follow the mission of the church and strive to be the hands and feet of Jesus, reaching out to help others in need.

We’ve been blessed this year to offer our support through financial means, services, and goods donations to many local and international charities and individuals.

The Preschool offers scholarships to local children who otherwise wouldn’t have the benefit of attending a preschool program, as well as discounts to church members and families with multiple children attending in one year. This year, over $5000 in discounts and scholarships were awarded.

Our teachers and families have donated over 30 bags of clothing to the FISH Hospitality Program in Somerville, who serves local homeless individuals and families and have collected over 500 cans and non-perishable food items for the local food bank through our Thanksgiving and Father’s Saturday programs. The Preschool collected over 200 requested Christmas items, ranging from slippers and toys to household appliances, for the women and children of The Resource Center of Somerset NJ who helps women and children who are victims of domestic abuse.

On the first Friday of each month, our teachers may wear jeans if they choose to donate $5 to the charity of the month. The teachers choose the organization to be supported and just this year, over $1000 has been donated to organizations such as Lee’s National Denim Day (breast cancer research), American Cancer Society, UNICEF, Sandy Hook Playground Fund, World Vision Fund (goats and chickens to third world countries), Alzheimer’s Foundation, Pancreatic Cancer Foundation, Leukemia Foundation, and Grace Church.

The warm and caring hearts of our teachers and families can be seen every day at our Preschool and in our community. We invite you to visit our program and see it for yourself. Tours are offered by appointment to see our programs for 2 ½ to 5 year olds.

We hope to see you soon!