A Mother of Two Reflects on Six Years of Engagement with WCCA

WCCA Story: Sarina

June 26, 2020

A Mother of Two Reflects on Six Years of Engagement with WCCA 

Sarina is a proud mother of two spirited children, five-year-old Levicy Easter and three-year-old Achilles DeLoss Thomas. Levicy, or "Levi" for short, is chatty and outgoing. "She’s curious and always asking questions,” Sarina said. "Achilles,” she continued “is rambunctious. He loves dinosaurs and swords. He recently got a lightsaber that he sleeps with.” 

Sarina first got involved with WCCA when she was pregnant with Levi. She enrolled in the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program to bolster her nutrition for a healthy pregnancy. Six years later, Sarina and her kids continue to benefit from the program. “WIC is a great resource for me, especially when I'm on a tight budget and can't afford better foods,” she said. “You can get healthy foods, like milk, peanut butter, fresh vegetables and fruits, juice, and healthy cereals. When you have babies who can’t drink milk, you can get formula. It’s been very helpful.”

Levi has been enrolled in WCCA’s Head Start program for the past two years. “She loves it,” Sarina said. “One day they had a bug guy come out and she was all excited because she got to hold a millipede,” Sarina continued. Another recent highlight for Levi was an activity in which the children made their own copies of Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? “All the kids made their own book by copying out the text,” Sarina said. “And they got to colour, copy and paste the pictures too. Then they all sat down with their copies and read the book together in a circle. My daughter memorized the book by heart after that.”

Sarina has been impressed by how WCCA Head Start teachers have gone above and beyond to help her family. The extra support has been especially welcome in recent weeks, with Wright County under shutdown orders due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “The teachers are really nice and really involved,” Sarina said. “They’ve been dropping off lunches since the shutdown, and call frequently to ask if we need anything.” Sarina mentioned that Ms. Kelly has been particularly helpful. “I talk to Ms. Kelly right now a couple of times a week,” she said. “She normally calls every Monday at least, the day before she drops off food, to make sure we don’t need anything extra.”

In March, Sarina was faced with a difficult situation when her landlord told her that she and her children would have to vacate the room they had been renting. Although she was legally protected from eviction by a temporary moratorium, Sarina decided it was best to find a new place to live. The family moved in early April—a major challenge amidst the pandemic. That week, Ms. Kelly brought some extra items in addition to groceries. “When I moved,” Sarina explained, “Ms. Kelly helped not only with groceries, but came and dropped off a bunch of kitchen items too—oven mitts and pot holders, dish towels, kitchen rugs, and floor mats. She wrapped them up and gave them to me as a housewarming gift.”

May 19 was graduation day at WCCA’s Head Start program. To mitigate the risk of COVID-19 transmission, the ceremony was held in the WCCA parking lot. Staff directed all of the families to park in a circle and then asked the young graduates to step out and stand beside their family’s cars. Staff handed out certificates and flowers to the children, and gave special gifts to two parents that had recently graduated from college. Music was played, the children sang, danced, and feasted on mini muffins, ice cream sandwiches, and popsicles.

It’s special events like these that stand out in Sarina’s mind when she thinks back on her experiences with WCCA over the years. She and her kids had a wonderful time, for example, at the Christmas party last November. “What they did is they put on a tree walk, and you could vote on the trees,” Sarina recalled. The event, which took place at Waverly Village Hall, featured a bounty of Christmas trees, each decorated by a different local business or community organizations. After the voting ended, each tree was given to a family that could normally not afford one. The event also featured gingerbread decorating, sleigh rides, dog sledding, reading with Ms. Claus and photos with Santa. Sarina and her kid’s favorite part was the pajama fashion show. “For the families involved in Head Start,” she explained, “they gave the kids pajamas and let them do a little fashion show on the stage. My kids loved it.”