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Great Falls Au Pairs In Demand News, Page 3 Classifieds, Page 17 Classifieds, ❖ Sports, Page 16 ❖ Elysse Richardson of Langley volleyball is this year’s Liberty District Volleyball Player of the Year. Operation Calendar, Page 10 ❖ Kid Comfort News, Page 3 Opinion, Page 8 Sports Rituals - online at www.connectionnewspapers.com Bringing Teams Together News, Page 4 Requested in home 12-3-09 home in Requested Time sensitive material. sensitive Time Attention Postmaster: Attention ECR WSS ECR Postal Customer Postal PERMIT #322 PERMIT Easton, MD Easton, PAID U.S. Postage U.S. PRSRT STD PRSRT Photo courtesy/Langley volleyball Photo www.ConnectionNewspapers.comDecember 2-8, 2009 ❖ Volume XXIII, Number 48 Great Falls Connection ❖ December 2-8, 2009 ❖ 1 Dress Up Your Home for the Holidays Visit our showroom to view the latest in fashion & quality while enjoying our personal service. 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Seneca Square (Next to Calico Corners) Dranesville Pkwy Rt. 7 Fairfax Co. 703-759-9200 1025-N Seneca Road RestonPkwy Monday through Saturday 10-6 • Sunday 12-4 • VISA • Master Card • Discover • AMEX Herndon Reston Tysons Corner 2 ❖ Great Falls Connection ❖ December 2-8, 2009 www.ConnectionNewspapers.com Great Falls Connection Editor Kemal Kurspahic News 703-778-9414 or [email protected] Anne DiFronzo, local coordina- Operation Kid Comfort tor for Cultural Care Au Pair Something for children to program in Great Falls, hold onto. with Christina Schwartz, au By Bridget Allen pair from The Connection Austria. t’s not certain who said, “War is Hell.” Yet, the families of soldiers who serve in the Iraq and IAfghan wars are certain of one thing: the phrase is true, especially for the children. That’s why Operation Kid Comfort — a program where vol- Au Pairs In Demand unteers make quilts for children whose family mem- bers are deployed — is so important. Susan Simms, manager, branch/corporate relations Families find the program an for the Armed Services YMCA in Alexandria, explains affordable childcare option. the program, its technical aspects and its popular- One of the quilts produced by Giselle ity: ”Operation Kid Comfort started at Ft. Bragg/Pope Schneider for Operation Kid Comfort. Air Force Base in Fayetteville, N.C., in 2003, as part By Anne DiFronzo hundreds of available, qualified au of the Armed Services YMCA [ASYMCA]. Since 2004 Local Childcare Coordinator pairs, Cultural Care is able to meet the program went from being at a single site to sev- the needs of families looking for eral sites across the country. Volunteers are taught ne consequence of the quality childcare. the basic steps of quilt making, how to crop and scan Ocurrent economic crisis “Although the demand for au pictures, how to prepare the fabric and how to use is that more mothers are pairs is strong, we understand that other necessary equipment. Photographs of the de- working. More new moms are re- affordable childcare is an eco- ployed parent are placed onto the quilts via “photo- maining in the workforce nomic necessity for our transfer;” the photos of the family member, or pho- and at-home mothers Perspectives current and potential tos with the children and the family members are who had decided to put host families,” said David scanned into a computer, printed, and then placed their careers on hold are Fougere, president of onto the fabric.” having to return to work. With an Cultural Care Au Pair. “We have increase in dual income house- taken some major steps to help OPERATION KID COMFORT has proven so popu- holds comes an increase in the families in these tough economic lar that the demand exceeds the number of quilts demand for quality childcare. times. While other au pair pro- available. Two volunteers Giselle Schneider and In some cases, this rising de- grams and other types of childcare Karen Mudry Avil explain their involvement with the mand is driving up childcare costs. are raising their fees, we are hold- program, and why it’s so special to them. According to a recent report by the ing our prices at 2008 levels for “I learned about the program by reading a news- National Association of Child Care 2009. We have also adjusted our paper article and I’ve been working with Operation Resource and Referral Agencies, payment plan and reduced the ini- Kid Comfort for about 2 1⁄2 years,Ó Schneider said. the price of child care is rising tial deposit so the upfront costs are Even then, juggling the responsibilities of mother- faster than the average rate of in- more manageable. And, we will be hood, work and other volunteer responsibilities, the flation. The report, which provides offering greater discounts to both Great Falls resident, still made time for the OKC pro- typical prices of child care in cen- new and repeat families through- gram. When asked why she committed to such time- ters, reveals that over the course out the year so many families will consuming and labor intensive volunteer work, she of a year, the average price of full- be paying even less than they paid seemed oblivious to the physically challenging as- time center care increased an av- last year.” pects involved, instead she emphasized the personal erage of 6.5 percent, almost three Here in Great Falls we have seen reasons, that caused her to become a volunteer for Giselle Schneider of Great Falls with Cathy times the rate of inflation and an increased interest in the au pair Operation Kid Comfort. and Nathan Jung, who received the quilt more than increases in healthcare program among local families. If “I can empathize with the feelings of loss a child at the 9-11 National Day of Service and and college costs. Escalating you have two or three children, has when they are separated from a parent … I was Remembrance at the RFK Stadium. childcare costs is having the great- there really is no comparison: The separated from my father for est effect on the nanny business. cost of the program is about $340 two years when we came to this More the program for the last two A recent Wall Street Journal article per week and that’s per family, not country as refugees. I can still and a half years, “I set a goal of estimated that full time nanny hir- per child. Au pairs can provide up To learn more about Operation Kid recall wishing I had a picture Comfort, visit the Web site at: http:// making two quilts per month ing is down between ten to thirty to 45 hours per week of child care, of my dad to hold close to my www.asymca.org/ but right now I am working on percent. which works out to be less than heart during thunderstorms, or Programs.aspx?pgmID=28&mid=27,or 13 quilts.” What’s her reason for One childcare program, how- $7.50 per hour, regardless of how just when I felt lonely. Having e-mail Susan Simms at sticking with such arduous vol- ever, has been able to meet the many children you have. ssimms2asymca.org. my dad’s picture near would unteer work? “To help the mili- growing demand for childcare The families are looking at more have been a great comfort to tary in a small way compared with an affordable option for than just the costs. In this current me. Through the OKC program, the quilt or pillow a to what they do for our country,” she said. working parents. Cultural Care Au economic climate people are look- child receives has pictures of the child and their par- Schneider and Mudry Avil aren’t the only dedicated Pair is a childcare and cultural ex- ing for flexibility as well as ent.” people working with Operation Kid Comfort. More change program based in Cam- affordability. Cost conscious par- Mudry Avil a homemaker also from Great Falls tells than 200 volunteers met in a recent three-hour quilt- bridge, Mass. that places au pairs ents need to be creative with their how her friend’s suggestion became her own labor making marathon at RFK Stadium on Sept. 1. Hosted across the country including au childcare solutions as parents take of love for Operation Kid Comfort: “I heard about by Greater DC Cares, the leading and largest coordi- pairs in Great Falls. Demand for on additional jobs or work longer the program from my neighbor, Giselle Schneider, nator of volunteerism in the greater-Washington area, au pairs is growing. Data from the hours. The au pair program is an who had a son in the Marines. I asked her if there as part of a 9/11 National Day of Service and Re- U.S. Department of State, which attractive option because it allows was anything I could do to benefit her son or the membrance ,many other people discovered and fell regulates the au pair program, parents to set a schedule that Marines and she said I could help her make quilts.” in love with the program that provides big quilts, for shows that nearly 22,000 au pairs works for them on a weekly basis, children to hold on to when their parents are away came to the United States last year, SINCE THAT TIME, Mudry Avil has also been with at war-time.