offered! Did you know that nearly 90% of car seats are not
what type of car or booster seat your child should be using, but
how to properly install it.
The ELC works with Safe Kids Worldwide and Johns Hopkins All
those organizations, monthly classes are held at different
At the car seat safety training session I attended, Kerry Gaylord
instructed parents on the proper seats to use for their children
and the correct installation of those seats. Kerry is the Director of
Child Development for the ELC, with 12 years of early childhood
Instructor. She was assisted during the training by ELC staffer
Tina Trivers. All car seat safety classes are taught by a nationally
During the training session, parents were shown an instructional
video about car seat safety. Following the video, Kerry and
Tina delivered information on the setup and installation of the
car seats. Participants could bring their own car seat, or the
income parents.
Once the car seats were assembled, Kerry and Tina followed the
parents to the parking lot to provide one-on-one assistance in
proper car seat installation. By the end of the class, all parents
had their car seats safely installed in their vehicles and ready to
provide their little ones with the best possible protection.
If you are interested in finding out more about car seat
location and schedule your free training appointment, go to
HopkinsAllChildrens.org/carseats.
our Early Literacy Coordinator while helpers from Volunteers of
America were preparing books for distribution. The volunteers
and outreach events. The ELC distributed 42,000 books last
year - including 20,000 in December alone. These books ended
up in the hands of countless area children, helping to increase
literacy in Manatee County.
Early Literacy Coordinator AnnaMaria Carleton explained that
some of the books are distributed by the ELC directly to child
care centers – in fact, about 12,000 books were given to child
care centers in 2017. Additional books are also provided to
families at community events such as Boofest and Holidays
Around the Ranch in Lakewood Ranch, and Remote Area
Medical clinics. Still more books are distributed to children
onsite when families are visiting the ELC offices to take
advantage of our many services.
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