EAST WINDSOR: Community gets a chance to sparkle at ‘Shining Star’ gala

By Amy Batista, Special Writer
EAST WINDSOR – Mayor Janice Mironov issued a proclamation recognizing April as the Month of the Young Child and kicked off the upcoming Better Beginnings Mayors’ “Shining Star” gala during the township council meeting Feb. 23.
“We thought it would be a great opportunity to take this meeting and to issue the proclamation to kick off the Better Beginnings Gala that will be taking place on April 9 and to demonstrate publicly our support for the event,” said Mayor Mironov. “It is an opportunity to focus on young people, how they grow up, how they are guided, to appropriately nurture them and ensure that they have the proper start in life.”
The event will be held on Saturday, April 9, at the East Windsor Holiday Inn. The reception begins at 5 p.m. and dinner follows at 6 p.m.
The mayor said she believed it was appropriate to recognize one of the pre-eminent programs in the community that is available for young people and makes quality child care accessible and affordable to families in East Windsor and Hightstown.
She said that it has become more challenging in today’s times to raise the resources and to provide the support that is important to continue valuable programs that reach young people who can benefit from having them.
“It not only helps the young people from getting a good start in life and getting the type of education they need, but obviously it is a tremendous assist to the families because it also gives them stability,” said the mayor. “It allows them to take employment and pay the necessary attention to their children knowing that they are in good hands while they are out working.”
Mayor Mironov presented Better Beginnings Executive Director Luz Horta along with her board members with a proclamation. Next, she held up the invitation to the upcoming gala.
“We have some excellent organizations and people being recognized at that time,” she said about the event, which is the primary fundraiser for Better Beginnings.
“It’s a chance for us to step up and participate and show our support,” she said.
Mayor Mironov co-chairs the event with Hightstown Mayor Larry Quattrone.
Each council member presented checks to Ms. Horta to purchase their $75 tickets and show support for the event.
The theme this year’s gala is “Once Upon a Time.”
“As we often say here in the room, it’s important to put your money and your resources and your efforts behind those good things and they can sustain themselves and really see their full benefit,” said Mayor Mironov.
Ms. Horta, who has been with the organization for 39 years, took a few minutes to thank the mayor and council for their support.
“I hope everyone will attend,” she said, adding that next year the organization will be celebrating its 50th year. “I have had the great pleasure of seeing of our children grow. “We’ve also come around to the point where I think it is well understood how important early learning is to our children. In society at large, we not only are given the job to shape minds when it matters most but to prepare the next workforce.”
Mercedes Colon-Vargas, fundraiser and event planner for the group, said that the Better Beginnings Board of Directors, staff, families and children remain grateful that they live within a community that remains dedicated to strengthening families that provide care and opportunities to work and to further their education by giving back to them and becoming self-supporting and contributing members of this community.
“We are grateful for the opportunity afforded to the children for shaping their minds when the time matters most,” she said. “This year’s theme is ‘Once Upon a Time’ and we use fairytales to teach life lessons to build upon character skills and to teach about what’s real and what’s pretend. So it’s our hope that through the continued support of our friends in the community that our story never ends but instead there will always be better beginnings to all our stories.”
Better Beginnings (BBCDC) is celebrating its 49th year of service, a longevity that can be credited to the support it has received throughout the years from the community and governing bodies. It celebrates families and children and publicly honors individuals, businesses and organizations that have demonstrated a high degree of commitment to the welfare of others.
The Lifetime Achiever recipients are Larry Blake, Pete Bussone and Kerri Peterson; Individual Award recipients are Lee Hutchinson and Denise Daniels; Organization Award Recipient is the Rocky Brook Garden Club; Business Award recipient is Dairy Queen; and the Youth Award recipient is East Windsor/Hightstown Boy Scouts.
According to the organization, BBCDC is a state-licensed, early learning community based childcare center accredited by the National Association by the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) since 2006. BBCDC adheres to the State of New Jersey’s childcare licensing and registration standards as defined in the New Jersey Manual of Requirement for Child Care Centers. It’s licensed capacity is for 99 (children, ages 2 and 1/2 through 13).
Currently the preschool program has a total enrollment of 57 children, divided into three multi-age classrooms ranging in ages from 2 1/2 through 5. The preschool program is a full-time, six- to 10-hour program, open all year from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday-Friday.
BBCDC is located in the educational wing of the First Presbyterian Church of Hightstown at 318 North Main Street.
For more information about Better Beginnings or the event, contact Mercedes Colon-Vargas or Luz Nereida Horta at 609-448-6226 or visit the website at www.betterbeginnings.net.