Bank foundation gives $10,000 to The Learning Center

To The Press

TLC (The Learning Center) has received a $10,000 grant from the First Citizens Charitable Foundation.

The check was presented recently by Charles City First Citizens Bank Market President Cathy Rottinghaus and staff of Charles City First Citizens Bank. The funds will be used to support TLC’s food program.

Pam Ost, TLC director, said the Department of Human Services requires the program to provide nutritious meals and snacks, and children who attend TLC receive breakfasts, lunches and snacks that meet federal requirements for quality, quantity and schedule for each age level.

The annual cost of the food program at TLC is more than $65,000, Ost said.

“These grant funds will provide needed support to insure the ability to provide the most nutritious meals for all of the children at TLC. We are so very thankful for the generous and continued support of First Citizens to TLC,” she said.

“Our food program is an integral component of the care that the children and families receive at TLC,” Ost added.

Ost also announced that TLC has been chosen as one of the child care centers in Iowa to participate in the Team Nutrition Healthy Habits Start Early project.

This project is a collaboration with the University of Iowa and the Iowa Department of Education and is responsible for collecting and analyzing child nutrition assessment data. 

“It is because of this partnership with First Citizens and other community partners that support our program that we can be a part of providing information that will make the nutritional health of our children at TLC the very best it can be,” Ost said.

TLC is a non-profit community child care center that provides care for children age 6 weeks through fifth grade.