Staff report

Kid Time Children’s Museum announced Saturday that it will help the Rogue Valley Family YMCA’s efforts to sustain emergency child care to healthcare and essential services workers during the COVID-19 crisis by providing activities, curriculum and additional support.

Kid Time, which closed Friday, March 13 in response to the novel coronavirus, also committed to helping families which are sheltering at home with the “Kid Time: Home Edition” initiative, a program which includes videos and activities to keep kids engaged at home. Links to the digital content can be found on Kid Time’s Facebook and Instagram pages.

“We recognize the extraordinary lengths so many in our community are going to in order to keep our community safe and functioning,” Kid Time Executive Director Sunny Spicer said in a press release. “Many who are working have children that need a safe and secure place to be while they are doing heroic work. We believe what the YMCA is doing is imperative.”

Spicer said Kid Time will essentially provide all the prep work to the teachers at the various emergency child care locations. And like the curriculum, the pre-packaged, “grab-and-go” activities are designed to fit the small groups format now employed by child care workers to limit the spread of COVID-19.

“As things unfold we’ll see what else we can do and what else they might need,” Spicer said, “but that’s what they need so far.”

Kid Time’s contribution is the latest example of what emergency child care facilities are doing to adapt to COVID-19. Before being allowed to enter each center, for instance, each child is screened for fever and symptoms. Child care is divided into small groups and most activities are conducted outdoors.

“At any time, childcare is necessary to keep our systems functioning” Rogue Valley Family YMCA Executive Director Brad Russell said in a press release, “but today, while our lives are depending on so many to be on the front lines of this public health crisis, we need to do our part.”

For more information about Emergency child care, contact Bethany Pitts at bpitts@rvymca.org, or call 541-772-6295 x114.