> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Untitled
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/061406-story/
- Published: 2006-06-14T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T18:20:13.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Education, Santa Monica, #archive-import, Homeless

*By Daily Press staff*

Low-income and other disadvantaged children have a new place to grow and learn in Santa Monica.

Through the efforts of volunteers, children at St. Joseph Center’s Early Learning Center (ELC) have a new facility at First Presbyterian Nursery School. Fifty volunteers scrubbed, reorganized and built all day on Saturday, June 3, resulting in two completely new learning “studios” at the ELC childcare facility, located in Santa Monica. The studios are small areas within each of ELC’s two classrooms where children can focus on either art or communication.

In the art studio, children can draw and paint while learning about colors and shapes. The communication area, replete with mailboxes and envelopes, gives children a chance to write letters to each other, their parents and ELC’s staff — an exercise that staff say helps them learn to express their feelings, cope with separation anxiety, and practice basic academic skills such as forming letters and writing sentences. Aside from building the studios, volunteers helped scrub ELC’s classrooms and reorganize other existing areas within each classroom.

To prepare for the day, First Presbyterian Nursery School procured $6,000 in donations, including items from local stores such as Busy Bee Hardware, Abbot’s Habit, Osh, and the 99 Cent Store. It was the largest project executed in the many years of volunteering by First Presbyterian Nursery School.

St. Joseph Center’s Early Learning Center (ELC) serves 32 homeless, formerly homeless and low-income children ages 18 months to 5 years old in an environment which helps them develop the mental and physical tools they will need to succeed in school. In addition, ELC offers parenting classes and other resources to help the entire family move toward greater health and stability.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 14, 2006.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/061406.pdf?ref=smdp.com)