Brashear's Back-to-Afterschool Bash!

It was such a pleasure for ALEC to host our ribbon cutting ceremony in celebration of a new school year, as well as the official opening of Gtech's Green Playces Project. On Thursday, September 24th we opened our doors to welcome in community members, families of the children we serve, and organizations we partner with, including the wonderful aforementioned Gtech, the Hilltop YMCA, and Big Brothers Big Sisters.

The Allentown Learning and Engagement Center of the Brashear Association continues to strive to provide a dynamic, stimulating and inspiring space for safe and inclusive learning. The environment is a key aspect to this goal, and so our beautiful garden space was imagined into life thanks to Gtech's hard work and partnership with us. Gardens are places of growth and magic, and ours will provide an opportunity for our youth to explore and learn through nature. We could not be more thrilled with this prospect, and hope you are too.

If you missed our grand ceremony, take a little peak at the activities we provided for our honored guests below. These included a collaborative mural project, a playful technology activity that created music from organic material electrical currents, and thoughtful questionnaire station.

Of course, we cannot fail to mention our ribbon cutting moment. Here at ALEC, we do things a bit differently- so we couldn't help but stray from tradition. We volunteered one of our more charismatic young members, Edwin, to do us the honor of cutting our green plank, the color nothing if not symbolic. Sawing a wooden board in half is hard work, but Edwin was determined to finish the job. The crowd was very supportive, and it was a heartwarming moment showing the great benefits of community.

We are so excited for all this year will bring, and hope you will stay tuned for everything that happens next.