We are proud to announce our 20th AwesomeStPaul grant has been awarded to Kaleidoscope Learning Family Resource Center. They will use their $1,000 grant to provide financial help for membership fees, and to purchase toys for their lending library. AwesomeStPaul chose this applicant because we want to help bring people together in St. Paul and to assist organizations and individuals that have creative ideas to make that happen. Congratulations Kaleidoscope!

According to Jennie Lynch, "Kaleidoscope Learning’s Family Resource Center is a new family and early childhood education initiative launched in conjunction with our sister-nonprofit, Monarch Montessori School. Located on St. Paul’s East Side, Kaleidoscope Learning (501c3) was founded to address the dearth of accessible services, materials, knowledge, and best practices associated with positive early childhood educational outcomes for families with children ages birth to six. Our services are multifaceted and include a toy library, parent education nights, open play hours in our model home environment space, and online parenting and early childhood education content such as blogs, informative social media posts, and presentations.

Kaleidoscope Learning launched its services during the summer of 2022, and since opening our doors, we have welcomed dozens of families from the East Side neighborhood and beyond. Our core product offering is our Educational Materials Library–a toy library filled with hundreds of toys, books, classic Montessori materials, gross-motor items, and children’s furniture. Our organization operates on a membership basis, and we allow families to borrow items for as long as they would like with no official due-date. Our memberships are affordable, and in order to remain truly accessible to all families, we provide membership assistance to those concerned about covering the cost of their membership.

The benefits of our toy library and other services are numerous. Families are able to save money, time, and energy by borrowing toys instead of purchasing new ones. Our organization promotes a sustainable, environmentally conscious way to play by reducing household toy consumption and toy waste. Finally, our greatest priority is developing a deep community filled with loving parents and caregivers of young children. As we continue to promote our operations in 2023, we strive to be a welcoming resource for families in St. Paul who are looking to expand their support network."