First Bank is teaming up with Beaufort-Hyde Partnership for Children this week in encouraging customers to become a “Friend of Children” through a donation to the organization.

“Investing in children makes good cents,” according to the Partnership’s Executive Director Lisa Woolard. “When communities invest in children early on, those children do better in school and are more successful in life.”

By becoming a Friend, donors’ tax-deductible donations will go directly to the Partnership, a local nonprofit organization that serves children birth to five years old and their families. The first 2,000 days of a child’s life (from birth to the first day of kindergarten) have a lasting effect that builds the foundation for future learning and success.

“Most of the brain’s development takes place from birth to five,” Woolard said. “We want to make those first 2,000 days count.”

Some of the Partnership’s programs and services include: NC Pre-K, Free Pat-a-Cake Playgroups, quality enhancement with child care providers, free books through Reach Out and Read, teacher training in Motheread Story Exploring, Triple P parenting-skill building, car seat safety checks, Week of the Young Child Parade and Festival, Children’s Free Book Boxes and free books through Dolly Parton Imagination Library.

The Partnership is currently scheduling appointments for Pre-K screenings.  To make an appointment, call 252-975-4647, ext. 11.

For more information about the Beaufort-Hyde Partnership for Children, please call 252-975-4647, visit us at bhckids.org or follow the organization on Facebook and Pinterest.