The Lima Noon Sertoma Club held a special meeting to recognize national speech-language-hearing month.

The Lima Family YMCA hosted their 175th Healthy Kids Day.

Area families are taking advantage of a free screening to help ensure their children are developing on track.

Linda Balogh, assistant to the directors of Royal Family Kids Camp, said the contribution will help them continue offering meaningful experiences to vulnerable children. “Royal Family Kids is a camp that we do for neglected and abused children and ages seven to 11, and we just give them positive memories by showing them good role models having fun and creating positive memories.”

Phyllis Montrose, Child Development Resource Director for Head Start, said, "We're still not sure exactly what's going to happen, because we are a November one grant. So as soon as our grant goes through that process, and then they release the funds, we know that we will be fully operational, but at this point, you know we're going to continue it with business as usual."

“Just working on those socialization skills for low-income families that may not have the opportunity to go to one of the preschools in the area,” said Phyllis Montrose, WOCAP Child Development Services director. “So what we do is that we work on writing skills, alphabet, name recognition, colors, shapes — everything that a child is going to need to get started in kindergarten to start their education career.”

Staying engaged can be a key factor, not only for the child but also for the mentor. Older kids often say they are bored at school, and teachers may view them as uninterested, which can lead to both sides putting in less effort. Communication and collaboration are essential to changing that narrative.

Child Advocacy Center of West Central Ohio (CAC), a program of Crime Victim Services, encourages all individuals and organizations to support prevention efforts of child abuse and neglect in Allen County throughout the year and especially during April, which is National Child Abuse Prevention Month. 

Kate Eshleman, PhD, psychologist with Cleveland Clinic Children’s explains, when a child is too busy, they’re at risk for something called hurried child syndrome.

It was one of the biggest turnouts for a youth program at the Lima Public Library — and not a word was spoken between participants.