To the Editor:
On behalf of the Chilmark Preschool families, staff, and community, the Chilmark Preschool Board would like to extend a giant thank-you to all the Menemsha businesses that participated in the first Menemsha Shop to Donate event on Friday, August 28. Not only did it help raise important funds for the Chilmark Preschool’s new building, it also generated more awareness about this critical project and made a powerful statement about the importance of early childhood education and care for our community.
After leasing a classroom within the Chilmark School building for the last 20 years, CPS is constructing a permanent home on the site beyond the school playground. Framing has begun, and the roof will be raised later this week! The new building will allow CPS to continue to provide essential care for preschool-aged students and enroll toddlers, a highly underserved population, for the first time. CPS is the only center-based early childhood education program in Chilmark and Aquinnah, and many working families depend on our care.
A huge thank-you to all the Menemsha businesses that participated: Copperworks, Homeport Restaurant, Iggy’s Bread, Larsen’s Fish Market, Menemsha Fish Market, Menemsha Galley, Menemsha Texaco, the Ruel Gallery, and Under the Surface Gallery.
In addition to the shop owners, thank you to all the CPS current and alumni parents, including Nettie and Colin Ruel, who envisioned this event and hosted the reception at the Ruel Gallery that evening, which included Spearpoint oysters, donated by Jeremy Scheffer and expertly shucked by Sam Hart –– and Catharine Rykowski, for coordinating it all! CPS alum grandparents Lynne and Allen Whiting generously donated a painting of West Basin from Menemsha, currently for sale at Copperworks. The majority of the proceeds will go to CPS.
For more information about how to support the project, please visit:
https://www.chilmarkpreschool.com/capital-campaign.
With gratitude,
Friends of the Chilmark Preschool Board of Directors
Virginia Barbatti, Bruce Golden, Nancy Grundman, Debbie Milne, Ellen Rossi, Rebekah Thomson, Steve Warner, Lynne Whiting, and Debbi Zetterberg