Supporters, board members and staff gathered recently at the Children’s House Child Development Center in Wabasso to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Redlands Christian Migrant Association, which provides quality childcare and early education to the children of migrant farm workers and other rural, low-income families.
Founded in 1965 near Homestead by Mennonite missionaries, the RCMA has expanded to 69 Child Development Centers throughout Florida. More than 150 Indian River County children, infants to age 5, are cared for at Whispering Pines CDC and the Robert. G. Covill CDC in Fellsmere and Children’s House CDC in Wabasso.
Funding for the county’s first facility in Fellsmere was provided by B&W Quality Growers in 1988. In 1992 the late Richard Graves, former CEO of Graves Bros. Co., and wife Mary offered an old Graves family grove home as space for the initial Children’s House and in 2008 a larger house was renovated to became the Wabasso facility.
“Richard and I both came out to read to the children and play with them. It was a love; a real love,” said Mary Graves. “It’s all about the children. There is a plaque on the wall beneath a photo of the original facility that says: In memory of Richard Graves. Your dream lives on.”
The Robert G. Covill Child Development Center in Fellsmere, dedicated in 2006, was named in loving memory of the late son of Paul and Stella Covill.
“Mary Graves asked me about 15 years ago if I wanted to read to some children. Fifteen minutes later I was hooked, said Stella Covill. “It’s just been a passion all those years. These children are very smart and they deserve a chance.”
“This is a really nice organization,” said board member Larry Salustro, who started as a volunteer in 2009. “They spend a lot of time with the parents making sure they’re actively involved; the parents are really motivated here. They also have education classes for the parents.”
“Educational programs for the parents are important because parents are a child’s first teachers,” said RCMA Executive Director Barbara Mainster, who has been with the organization for 43 of its 50 years and plans to retire in 2016. “Children from low-income families go to school having learned 30 million fewer words. If you don’t know the words you can’t learn to read.”
Parents are primarily employed in agriculture-related positions, but RCMA also reaches out to other low-income families. English is spoken and taught at the school; something especially important in families where English is a second language.
“This center has a nice rainbow mix of children,” added Mainster, before introducing an adorable ensemble of 10 preschoolers who sang animated versions of Tiny Tim the Turtle and the Alphabet Song.
Attendees also met several former RCMA students who are now paying it forward, including Lizbeth Gonzalez, an RCMA Family Support Worker, and Laura Perez, who had been an enrollee in the first year of Children’s House and is now its Center Coordinator. Maria Sanchez, a 2014 Sebastian River High School graduate, is attending college to become a marine biologist but is considering switching to a teaching career.
“Those who want to send all the migrants home haven’t really considered who will plant, pick and pack the food. They also don’t recognize the future contributions that will be made by those bright and shining faces in RCMA’s classrooms,” said volunteer Dean Young. “They must not understand our long and amazing immigrant history, or that diversity is one of the great strengths of this country and that no one does it better than North America.”
“What’s happening here is really developing the future of this country,” said Mainster. “We are celebrating 50 years and hope to have another 50.”