News from Project Self-Sufficiency

Project Self-Sufficiency will offer parenting workshops for parents of children of all ages this spring.   Participants will learn about the different stages of physical and emotional development during infancy, childhood and adolescence, as well as techniques for positive discipline and improved communication.   The course will run on Wednesdays, March 18 th – May 20 th , 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.; classes are co-sponsored by the Sussex County Family Success Center and Project Sussex Kids, the Sussex County Council for Young Children.   The sessions are free and open to the public, but registration is required.    The agency is located at 127 Mill Street in Newton.   The parenting classes offered by Project Self-Sufficiency follow the Nurturing Parent curriculum which teaches age-specific parenting skills and includes components designed for parents as well as children.   The workshops encourage parents to share their experiences with each oth...

Project Self-Sufficiency was recently awarded funding to purchase and outfit a refrigerated vehicle to transport fresh and packaged food to far-flung portions of its service areas where residents may not have easy access to personal vehicles or public transportation.   Grants were received from the Post Foundation and the Ellman Discovery Foundation.   Funding has been used to purchase and refrigerate a vehicle and initiate a food rescue program throughout Sussex and Northern Warren Counties as well as Portland, Pennsylvania.   The mobile unit will travel a set schedule picking up usable food from grocers, schools and other venues and make it available to residents in need.   The program expands on the food rescue program currently in place in the Helen Morgan and Mohawk Avenue Schools in Sparta, as well as the agency’s nine community gardens and PSS Journey, the agency’s mobile services vehicle. The food rescue program in the Sparta school district ...

Hilltop Country Day School Students   To honor the memory of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King recently, students from the Hilltop Country Day School preschool class participated in a service project designed to help local children in need.   The students created gift bags brimming with all the supplies needed for a festive birthday party and donated the Birthday Party Bags to the students at the Little Sprouts Early Learning Center, the early childhood development facility operated by Project Self-Sufficiency in Newton.   Hilltop Country Day School parents donated cake mix, icing, baking cups, sprinkles, candles, balloons, blank  birthday  cards and small  birthday  backpacks filled with coloring books, crayons, and playdoh.  Christine De Stefano, Hilltop Country Day School Preschool Teacher, explained, “We wanted the children to participate in a service project to honor the kindness and compassion of Dr. Martin Luther KIng, Jr. ...