Memorable Event Creates More Memories for Children

Thanks to the women who generously donated during the Cash Call portion of our inaugural Wine, Women and Shoes event, which took place this past May at the new DoubleTree Hotel by Hilton, 65 kids from our Second Street Learning Center were able to enjoy a variety of fun and educational trips to local attractions. Destinations ranged from the Kutztown Folk Festival and Lehigh Valley Zoo to attending the Reading Museum’s “Dinosaurs Around the World: Passport to Pangea” exhibition and creating their own ice cream flavor at The Turkey Hill Experience in Lancaster County.

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A candid picture of children from the Second Street Learning Center as they meet Pedro the donkey at the Kutztown Folk Festival.

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Kids from the Second Street Learning Center pose for a picture at the entrance to the Reading Museum’s “Dinosaurs Around the World: Passport to Pangea” exhibition.

A total of 18 trips were planned throughout the summer months by the Second Street Learning Center staff. The trips were broken up into three separate groups based on the childrens’ age. Those in the fifth and sixth grade spent their summer enjoying a range of educational field trips to places such as Crystal Cave in Kutztown, where they learned how caves form while getting to explore the cool, 54 degree cave on their own tour, and Herr’s Chip Factory in Allentown, where they received a tour that gave them a behind-the-scenes look at the production of Herr’s products. The middle school students were also able to enjoy a day outside at French Creek State Park and two trips to the movies. 

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Fifth and sixth grade daycare students learn about the “Upside Down Ice Cream Cone” stalagmite formation at the beginning of their tour of Crystal Cave.

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 Daycare students from our Second Street Learning Center pose for a picture outside historic Crystal Cave after their tour.

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 Kids from our Second Street Learning Center enjoy some fun in the sun at French Creek State Park.

Tween students between the ages of 10 and 13 enjoyed different trips that were age-appropriate for them, including a visit to The Turkey Hill Experience and the Franklin Institute. The final group of trips was carefully selected for younger children and included excursions to places such as the Hands-on Children’s Museum of Lancaster. 

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One of the daycare students learns how to milk a cow as part of the process of making her own ice cream while at The Turkey Hill Experience.

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Second Street Learning Center children enjoy playing hopscotch.

Michelle Johnson, assistant head tween teacher, accompanied the middle school aged children on their trips throughout the summer. “Some of the children don’t have a chance to go on a summer vacation. Now they can go back to school and say what they did this summer,” Johnson explains with a thankful smile spreading across her face. Out of the 450 plus children that our Second Street Learning Center serves, 98% come from families that are at or below the poverty level, making these trips all the more valuable to the children.

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 The kids at our Second Street Learning Center send a huge thank you to all of the generous women at Wine, Women & Shoes who made these summer trips possible!

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