Since our humble founding on Sanibel as a local non-profit cooperative preschool, over 46 years ago, we have been in service of these islands and the future-building of this community. We are CECI (fondly pronounced “sessy” or "seesee"), “the children’s center," or that nature preschool where kids learn to love the environment by playing outside all day.
As many of you know, but maybe some of you don't....CECI is a non-profit organization. We were founded 46 years ago as a parent cooperative for young children on Sanibel to socialize and for their families to create a community on our island. Our very foundation is built upon the families of CECI and their need for their children to learn, grow, and to find their place within the natural world.
Fast forward 46 years later and here we are. We remain a close-knit community that wants and needs our children to learn, grow, and to find their place within the natural world. To honor our founding families and to continue to provide a stellar nature-based early childhood education, we are banding together to support our school!
We have been here to care for generations of children. Whether it was you, your neighbor, your children, or your grandchildren that have attended CECI over the years, Y-O-U are a foundational piece of our history and community influence.
While we continue to ensure that children have safe, healthy, frequent, and meaningful opportunities for nature connection as well as a high- quality education; 2020 has brought many financial hardships to our organization.
Our center runs with annual expenses historically averaging $268,000 (prior to the funding of a scholarship program and building repairs). Faced with Covid regulations and closures, lower student teacher ratio requirements, overall limitations to enrollment capacities, and an inability to hold in-person fundraisers, we have depleted a significant portion of our financial reserve. Put simply, our tuition income alone is not enough to sustain our organization.
We have been here to care for your children and the children of your community. Now, we need to appeal to you and request your support.
We usually hold two fundraisers per year to raise money to sustain our organization. Due to all things 2020, we are in dire need of a major fundraiser! Our Board of Directors (made up of our current student's family members) have set the goal of $50,000 to raise before the end of the year.
It's an ambitious task to say the least, but CECI is a pillar of our community and supported by people like you - people who believe, as we believe, that the very foundation of our unique island begins with our youngest children.
Our current family, The Galantino’s, kicked off our fundraising campaign by donating their professional time and expertise for an “in-house” effort to meet our end of year goal. Courtney and Carey Galantino, of Twist of Fate Imagery, captured time-less photos of each child at school. This fundraiser raised $600 to start the forward moving momentum of our $50,000 goal!
To learn more about CECI and to donate please visit our website www.childrenseducationcenter.com or call 239-472-4538.