A blessed Palm Sunday to you!
Palm Sunday is a sort of anniversary for Hilltop Children’s House. It was on Palm Sunday of 2017 that Noelle and Tom determined that they would do something to make a difference in the neighborhood of Steubenville.
On Palm Sunday 2017 a gang shooting left a 15 year-old dead. He was killed just two blocks from where Tom was living at the time, and one block from where HCH is presently located.
The shooting convinced Noelle and Tom that they had to do something with their time and talents to help the children of the neighborhood. In 2018, this conviction became Hilltop Children’s House.
So it seems that Palm Sunday is a great time to step back and pause for a moment. To step back and look at where things are. And also, to share with you all some exciting news for the future.
Presently our Primary Classroom enjoys great success.
Our materials have expanded and grown. We have a very full complement of materials to help children learn practical life skills, sensorial lessons, language, and mathematics. We’re in pretty good shape, but there’s alway room for improvement. Some items, like our bells, came to us second hand, so they are well-used and need to be replaced. Other items, like clay pitchers or glass trays, suffer the consequences when a child doesn’t handle with proper care. Natural consequences are a huge part of the learning process!
And what a group we have! We have 14 children this year, all ages from two-and-a-half through six, coming and learning together five days each week.
The mix of ages, interests, and abilities allows children to learn at their own pace, to help each other learn, and to learn how to be a healthy member of a society.
One of our students who has been with us since we opened our doors in 2018 is now seven. She aged out of our regular program last year. But there are some works in the classroom that she hadn’t quite mastered yet — division, fractions, and baking (yes, baking) among them. If we had an Elementary classroom she would be in it. Her parents opted to home school rather than send her to a conventional school, but they asked if she could come back to our Primary classroom two days each week to put in extra work on those areas.
We are only too-happy to have her this year! She is a positive example to our younger children, and she is learning these all-important lessons!
But, truth be told, she really is ready to be in an actual Elementary Montessori environment.
And we hope to provide an Elementary Classroom for her next year.
The people from whom we bought our present building in 2018 still own the building next door to ours. Both structures were built in the 1920s: ours to be a small one-room church, the other to be the parsonage.
Our neighbors no longer have need for the the other building, and they believe in what we are doing, so they have offered to sell it to us for the incredible price of just $10,000.
This is where you come in.
This building would be perfect for a new Elementary Program. And since the back yards connect, we would fence in the entire space to be a secure shared space. Children from the two programs would interact in outdoor works like gardening, animal husbandry (yes, we would have chickens), and other large outdoor works.
As for students, well, between our present Primary children who are ready for Elementary, and inquiries from other schools, we have more than 10 children who are ready to start THIS FALL.
Can you help us raise this modest sum by April 24?
Your gift of $100, $500, $1,000, or more will help Hilltop Children’s House literally take our impact to the next level.
Any moneys raised beyond the amount needed to purchase will go toward closing costs and the needed renovations to the building.
You can give via Facebook (which takes no fee), PayPal (which takes a percentage), or send us a check to:
Hilltop Children’s House
117 S. Hollywood Blvd. #133
Steubenville, Ohio 43952
But whichever way you give, you will be giving children in Steubenville a great opportunity for a truly life-changing education!
To give us the best chance possible to open this fall, be sure to give by April 24!
God bless, and thank you!