How has ICG’s scholarship impacted your family?

It came at the perfect time. I was nervous about starting work and sending Sam to kindergarten during the pandemic. Knowing he could go to After School @ ICG and be outside helped.

He started part-time; then, we shifted to full-time. At first, I didn’t apply for a scholarship, and then I was worried we’d have to stop going because we couldn’t afford it.

It’s helped me tremendously because we were part-time in his Kindergarten year. I didn’t have a scholarship that year, but when I was going in the following year, I was offered a scholarship and encouraged to do so. It was so incredibly helpful; I didn’t have that budgeted as a single mom; dad’s not around at all, so I had no financial support otherwise. It’s such a huge help not to have to worry—my scholarship isn’t huge, but it’s just enough to really take a huge weight off my shoulders. It’s one less thing to worry about. Living downtown as a single mom, I wouldn’t be able to send him without the scholarship. I did look at other programs, but I didn’t want to send him to other programs, so this allowed him to stay there. The consistency has been so fantastic, even with changes in staff, to have a core level of consistency. Not to have to change to a new situation, which might not have happened without the scholarship. We have a very tight budget.

I do qualify for some things (Child Health Plus), but it’s not a free or reduced lunch. The cost of living here is so expensive, and I absolutely would not be able to be there without the scholarship. It has just been such a help.

What does your child get out of participating in ICG’s program?

Sam just loves it there. He wouldn’t do well if he had to be inside at an afterschool program. I can’t picture him in a program where he couldn’t be outside running. His siblings are much older than him so this is his time to play with other children, he needs that time to be outside where he has that space and freedom to be active. When I pick him up after a busy day, I know that he’s played hard and been outside, rather than home, inside on a screen. Not only do I love that he has outside time, but I don’t have to feel that mom guilt when I have to work late or run errands because he loves it there. He’s been a mover since he could move. He’s always preferred playing with sticks to watching TV. He’s just a mover.

Living downtown, access to that space is so important to him. He tells people it’s his favorite place in Ithaca. On days when he doesn’t have school, he makes me take him there. When I ask him where he wants to go and what he wants to do, his response is always the same: “Children’s Garden, obviously.”

He just loves it so much. There’s just endless things to do and create there. To take that away from him – the thought – was just so sad for both of us. We knew it was not something we wanted to happen. The scholarship and the program have made such a positive impact on his life.

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