We are fortunate to have incredible medical professionals to take care of BCC youth. (Pictured here is our Baltimore Nurses Team.)Breezeway Market Recap May 2, 2019
The Breezeway Market hosted a special event Thursday, May 2nd to support BCC’s Annual Auxiliary Volunteers and Friends of BCC! 
Strawbridge students have been busy hand painting pottery getting ready for the Spring.
The horticulture youth have learned how to propagate spider plants. In addition the market was stocked with freshly potted vegetables plants for your garden or outdoor pot; tomato, bell pepper, cucumber, or basil plants.
The sweetest treats are were sold at the Breezeway Market included chocolate covered pretzels and homemade cookies.
The market was also stocked with body scrubs, lotions, dreamcatchers paintings, candles and more!
Aim for Impact.
Good afternoon, everyone –
On behalf of the Spiritual Life Team, I invite you to take a moment and center on positive actions and thoughts.
We are in the “homestretch” of our 40 Days!
Our final theme brings us to the fourth core value of BCC:
Aim for Impact. In other words, we are striving to make a difference.
It seems appropriate to focus now on how our commitment to positive actions and positive thoughts is making an impact both in our own lives and in our community.
I invite you to look back over your calendar of these last few weeks.
- Does any one action stand out for you?
- Where were you most challenged?
- How have you grown?
- What will you do now?
Imagine with me the cumulative effort of all of our positive actions and thoughts blessed by God’s grace.
Consider these words by Hilary Weeks:
Think of the impact one positive thought can have.
Now multiply that by a million and watch the world around us change.
Thank you for your participation in the 40 Days of Positive Actions and Thoughts!
May God multiply our impact for the good of young people and their families in our communities and in our world.
With hope –
Stacey
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This week our focus is on gratitude.
On behalf of the Spiritual Life Team, I invite you to pause for a moment to center on being thankful.
- What are you thankful for in this moment?
- How will you show your gratitude today?
Here are some inspirational thoughts to guide us in our practice of gratitude:
Thank you is the best prayer that anyone could say. I say that one a lot. Thank you expresses extreme gratitude, humility, understanding. Alice Walker
Thankfulness is the beginning of gratitude. Gratitude is the completion of thankfulness. Thankfulness may consist merely of words. Gratitude is shown in acts. Henri Frederic Amiel
Feeling gratitude and not expressing it, is like wrapping a present and not giving it. William Ward
Gratitude turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow. Melody Beattie
I believe deeply that gratitude is an essential component of positive living. Gratitude is healing and transforming. It cannot be imposed; gratitude can be nurtured and modeled. Gratitude makes us more fully who God created each of us to be. It brings us perspective.
Be intentional about living in gratitude. Let us look for ways to show our gratitude to God (Higher Power) and to one another.
Don’t forget to do something kind for yourself in gratitude for the gift of your life and the unique person you are.
On Wednesday of this week UMHC and BCC held a merger celebration. Some of you may know that for many years UMHC has used a heart as part of its logo. The picture above includes a heart and it reminded me of how grateful we are to be working together as one. We are grateful for the past years of dedicated service through our organizations; we give thanks for the promise of the future together and we express gratitude for the present partnership that will lead to impacting more children, more families, and more communities.
I conclude with one verse of scripture from the early Church: “Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18 (New Living Translation)
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We Respond with Empathy
Good morning – Greetings on this beautiful day!
On behalf of the Spiritual Life Team, I invite you to take a moment and breathe… center yourself in compassion and kindness.
This week’s theme of our 40 Days of Positive Actions and Thoughts is related to our third core value: we respond with empathy.
I offer this quote to get you thinking and to encourage conversations with one another.
Empathy:
“Let me
hold the door for you.
I may have
never walked
in your shoes,
but I can see
your soles are worn,
your strength is torn
under the weight of a story
I have never lived before.
Let me hold the door for you.
After all you’ve walked through,
It’s the least I can do.”
-Morgan Harper Nichols
Responding with empathy requires effort and intentional action. It is important to remember that feeling empathy and compassion for others and ourselves must lead to action if we are to have an impact.
I offer this prayer from a Native American tradition:
Oh, Great Spirit,
Help me to remain calm and strong
In the face of all that comes toward me.
Let me learn the lessons you have hidden
In every leaf and rock.
Help me seek pure thoughts and act
With the intention of helping others.
Help me find compassion
Without empathy overwhelming me.
-Great Spirit Prayer
For those who wish to turn to Christian scriptures, I offer a reminder that empathy and compassion are at the heart of following Jesus Christ.
“For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Galatians 5:14)
Jesus’ teaching is grounded in the Hebrew Scriptures. For example – “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Leviticus 19:18
I close with this thought-provoking quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who gave his life for his Christian faith as an anti-Nazi dissident:
We must learn to regard people less in the light of what they do or omit to do,
And more in the light of what they suffer.
We hold you in our prayers and compassionate intentions.
Stacey
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Board of Child Care President and CEO Laurie Anne Spagnola responds to the 2019 United Methodist Church General Conference Session
Greetings, everyone! I hope that my note finds you well. I am writing to catch you up on a few developments within the United Methodist Church.
Have you ever had a really good friend that made a decision or held a belief that you didn’t particularly care for? Was it hard for you to understand their thinking? Were you able to maintain your friendship still, despite the difference? The Board of Child Care (BCC) and the United Methodist Church (UMC) are friends. The Board of Child Care (BCC) and the United Methodist Church (UMC) are separate, but connected, sharing a deep heritage of the United Methodist tradition.
Some of you may be hearing news from a recent meeting of the worldwide United Methodist Church. At this meeting, delegates debated issues relating to the ordination of LGBTQ+ persons and the acceptance of same-gender marriages in the UMC and narrowly approved certain changes in church rules which we find deeply disturbing and hurtful to the LGBTQ+ community. There are some appeals occurring at the moment and It will take a while for things to settle into place as the Church continues to plot its future.
BCC groans from this decision. While I am grateful for the support the BCC receives from the UMC, BCC believes in inclusion in every regard. BCC is committed to our core values of safety, integrity, empathy, and impact. I want to assure you of our absolute adherence to the core value of safety and that BCC “values life, spirit, and health above all else” and this includes all persons regardless of gender identification and sexual orientation. BCC practices a non-discrimination policy in terms of the individuals we serve as well as our employment practices for talent, and there will be absolutely no changes to that policy.
BCC and its Spiritual Life team is committed to honoring all persons as created by God with inherent worth and provides guidance for persons of various faith traditions while encouraging a diversity of spiritual expressions. From these beliefs, we will not stray. We hold fast to BCC’s core values and our purpose of enriching communities one family at a time. I delight and value the diversity of ALL persons who make our BCC community vibrant and strong. BCC will continue to learn and grow about all diversities and advocate for social justice with pride and determination.
BCC values everyone’s voice around the table – thanks for all you do to contribute to our special organization.
Warmly,
Laurie Anne Spagnola, MSW
President and CEO
Board of Child Care of the United Methodist Church, Inc.
3300 Gaither Road
Baltimore, MD 21244-2999
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Congratulations! You are halfway to the goal of 40 days of positive actions and positive thoughts. Keep up the great effort!
I am grateful that we have today – another opportunity for kindness and for positive actions embodying our values of safety and integrity.
More positivity to come in the next 20 days ….
Kindness in words creates confidence.
Kindness in thinking creates profoundness.
Kindness in giving creates love.
-Lao Tzu
When you are kind to others, it not only changes you, it changes the world.
-Harold Kushner
Peace to you this day as you strive to be kind to yourself, kind to others and kind to all God’s creation – Stacey
Rev. Stacey Nickerson
Director of Church and Community Engagement
Board Of Child Care of The United Methodist Church, Inc.
Breezeway Spring Market
States face opportunities and challenges implementing Family First Prevention Services Act
On March 19, 2019, Representatives (D) Democrat, Gwen Moore and Republican (R) Jackie Walorski held a Capitol Hill Roundtable discussion on how three states are implementing the (FFSA) Family First Prevention Services Act’s comprehensive law.
Laurie Anne Spagnola, President, and CEO, Board of Child Care, Maryland was one of three panelists selected including David Whelan, Vice President, Child Well Being, Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin; and Sharon Pierce, President, and CEO, The Villages of Indiana, Inc; to share their unique perspectives on FFSA. Also, the roundtable was organized to better inform future policy considerations, and to serve as a resource.
The Family First Prevention Services Act (H.R. 5456 (P.L. 115-123) was signed into law as part of the Bipartisan Budget Act on February 9, 2018. This Act reforms the federal child welfare financing streams, Title IV-E and Title IV-B of the Social Security Act, providing services to families who are at risk of entering the child welfare system. The bill aims to prevent children from entering foster care by allowing federal reimbursement for mental health services, substance abuse treatment, and in-home parenting skill training. It also seeks to improve the well-being of children already in foster care by incentivizing states to reduce the placement of children in congregate care.
Click here for a Family First Prevention Services Act Fact Sheet
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Meet Aleesha “Get er done” Gladden
Every day the nation’s 650,000 social workers act as advocates, champions and leaders who make our society a better place to live. Today we invite you to meet Aleesha Gladden, who has been a therapist at our Strawbridge School for a little over two years.
Aleesha’s passion for the holistic care and well-being of her students comes through in the work she puts into meeting her students’ needs. Just this school year, she has facilitated multiple college tours for our graduating juniors and seniors to prepare them for life after Strawbridge. She also successfully advocated for potentially homeless youth to receive housing at BCC and has worked with outside agencies to ensure her students receive the benefits and services that they need. We are consistently impressed with her attitude and willingness to go above and beyond for her students. She is also the team’s official Self-Care Queen!
Click here to see career opportunities to work with Aleesha Gladden.
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