Kaleidoscope Dinner Marks Expansion in Serving the“Island Grown, Island Raised”

Fundraising Dinner on Saturday, Sept. 10 at 5:30 p.m.

Amber Paulsen, Kaleidoscope Director, snacking with, from left, Lula, Quinn and Jackson

Kaleidoscope Childcare Center on North Beach Road marks another anniversary and new developments at its annual “Island Grown, Island Raised” Dinner next Saturday night.

The mission of the 20-year-old organization is to “provide safe, affordable, high-quality, consistent childcare and preschool while supporting Orcas Island families.”

The seventh annual “Locally Grown, Locally Raised” dinner and auction will be held at the Orcas Senior Center, starting at 5:30 p.m. The event is designed to be both an intimate gathering, serving about 50 guests who will enjoy the five-course meal and entertainment, and “a screaming deal,” says Paulsen. The evening will take on a “Picnic” atmosphere, as planned by the Kaleidoscope Board under the leadership of Rick Markov.

Some of the locally-raised, locally-grown contributions are wines paired with each course from Lopez Island Vineyards; and products from Black Dog, Morningstar and Maple Rock Farms. The entrée will be a barbecue medley provided by Fire restaurant; dessert comes with blackberry pies made by Kaleidoscope volunteer Jessie Taylor .

Servers are Kaleidoscope alumnae: Ashlee Minnis, who now is studying Culinary Arts at Bellingham Technical College; and Alexa Nigretto, who has been an employee as well as an alumna of Kaleidoscope, and is studying Early Childhood Education at Woodring College of Education at Western Washington University in Bellingham.

Justin Paulsen, owner of Terra Firma Construction, which has donated labor for the construction of the Kaleidoscope expansion, will be chef for the evening. He has seven years experience working at a Bellingham restaurant.

Auction items include what Amber describes as both “frivolities”:

• Local art
• Athletic Club membership
• Seattle weekend getaway, airfare and two nights stay at a houseboat
• Scenic Bi-plane ride
• Drink a day for a year at Teezer’s

and “necessities”:

• Auto oil change
• Septic tank inspection
• Loads of Gravel

John Clancy will serve as auctioneer; any other donations are welcome at 376-2484.

Tickets to the event, at the Senior Center, are $50 per person. Free childcare will be provided at Kaleidoscope.

The annual dinner is Kaleidoscope’s main fundraiser for the year, usually bringing in $15,000 towards the center’s $350,000 annual operating budget.

Parents’ tuition payments cover about 25 percent of the enrollment costs, Paulsen says.

“The high-needs families we serve are increasing, with additional special education children and families that struggle financially,” says Paulsen.

Federal funding helps, as does additional support from the Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP) a state program coordinated on Orcas Island by Sage McLeod; ECEAP also assists at Children’s House and Orcas Montessori school.

ECEAP is “for us, a huge part of our pre-school enrollment,” says Paulsen. “Sage not only gets kids enrolled and keeping us informed of the guidelines, she helps us to find ways to meet the guidelines and I really appreciate that. Without her, we wouldn’t have ECEAP funding.

“Our little voice – of 25 children – wouldn’t be heard, but those children mean a lot to her.”

Paulsen notes that ECEAP funding is not available to families from June through September.

Kaleidoscope also recently received grants from the Orcas Island Community Foundation (OICF) and the Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender organization which will fund a “Music Together” program, part of the 2011-2012 preschool curriculum; and a program to experience family diversity in a positive, safe, natural manner through quality literature and dramatic play.

Paulsen has worked at Kaleidoscope for 13 years. She supervises a staff of six who will serve approximately 50 children each day, once their expansion of the building to include an Infant-Toddler Center is complete.

The ground was broken for that project 18 months ago, and the completion date is expected to happen in weeks after the certificate of occupancy is issued and inspections by the State Fire Marshal and Early Childhood Training staff from Bellingham are complete. Like the Center now, the Infant-Toddler room will operate from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday year-round.

The building is also expanding at the back, where office space for Orcas Family Connections, Family Resource Center will be located. Paulsen is also Chairman of the Board for Orcas Family Connections, another 501c3 non-profit organization. She says,“Kaleidoscope houses Orcas Family Connections free of charge, because of the convenience that will offer to our families.”

Last month, Amber’s fifth child, Eliot Paulsen was born. Making life safe and pleasant for Orcas families, while effectively running a non-profit business appears to be a seamless occupation for her, an “island-raised girl” herself. She moves calmly and speaks clearly about the upcoming “Island Grown, Island Raised” Dinner, while supervising preschoolers playing a board game, signing checks for bank deposits, preparing for inspection of the new expansion, and holding her weeks-old baby.

Her commitment to Orcas children and their families comes through as she talks about Kaleidoscope’s expansion to the Infant-Toddler room and the Orcas Family Connections Resource Center office: “What’s most exciting about the expansion is thinking about the relationships we’ll be able to build with the families. We will be able to promote positive relationships in one building from birth to age 12.”

(The Kaleidoscope website it at ourkaleidoscopekids.org/)