The holidays are a time to be grateful for the blessings we have and share them — and that's what #GivingTuesday is all about.

At Studer Community Institute we would love for you to consider supporting our work to help parents use their voice and their time and attention to build the foundation their child will need to succeed in school and life.

Just $25 buys a Brain Bag for one of the 5,000 new babies born each year in our community. You can donate here. 

What does that $25 do? It gives moms — and dads — a toolkit they can use to help begin the journey of preparing a child for school from the very first days of life. 

That's a journey that we know begins with the loving sound of a mother's voice — and ends with a child who has made the most of a critical window in early brain development. 

It helps moms like Jessica Mathews, 29, of Pensacola. She had her third daughter, Heidi, at Baptist Hospital in September of 2017. Heidi has two older sisters, Jane, 4, and Noelle, 2. Jessica says that the Brain Bag she received was an important tool for the whole family. Jessica says  Heidi will crawl around the house with a book in her hand.

It helps moms like Kaloni Bradley, whose baby, London, was one of the first Brain Bag babies. Bradley works at The Woodlands. She said she was very grateful for the Brain Bag and for the birthday gift bags. “Thank you so much. It’s great that you are all doing this.”

And it helps moms like Courtney Raynor.

“Thank you so much for the brain bag. My son is already learning to point at colors and simple objects when asked at only 9 months old. The (Brain Bag) rattle is still a favorite. I'm glad to have yall in our community.  There are a lot of parents with limited resources and the knowledge y’all have shared is outstanding.”

Since the project began in the spring of 2017, more than 8,200 families have received a Brain Bag — some 4,400 in 2018. These families not only received tools to help them talk and interact more with their children, but also they received advice and coaching about why that interaction is so important to build school readiness.

Because in Escambia County only 46 percent of children were ready for kindergarten last year, based on state education department data. In Santa Rosa County, it was 60 percent. 

That means we have a journey of 1,000 miles ahead of us. And like all journeys, it begins with a single step. One family at a time. 

Thank you.