Hunger Mountain Children's Center, HMCC, is a changemaker through its work with children and the community. Children at HMCC learn the importance of social change and respect for the world around us through subtle measures. We feel that is is important to teach children social and environmental responsibility in an age appropriate manner without the use of guilt. By taking small steps and making environmental and social pieces a natural part of our everyday activites, HMCC is bringing about change.
Hunger Mountain Children's Center, HMCC, has been located in downtown Waterbury for over 30 years. Through our years of working within the community, we have come to have a real fondness and connection with Waterbury -- the parks, the trails, the Winooski River, the libray, the local recreational opportunities, and the family inspired and centered events. This town is a great place for children to learn, explore, and grow as individuals. We are able to use so much of what the community has to offer in our work with children. We have access to multiple environments and opportunities.
We at HMCC are passionate about the importance of getting children outside. In today's world, families are finding it harder and harder to get kids outside. Whether it be technological distractions, fear, or lack of family owned play spaces, family routines are often based on indoor activities and scheduled, supervised play dates. At HMCC, we utilize outdoor activities as much as possible to allow children the chance to interact with nature and explore their surroundings. We would like to be able to train and support families to do the same. Being outdoors not only enrichs children's creativity and passion for nature, it allows them to be active and get exercise without even realizing it.
Hunger Mountain Children's Center has played an active role in the Waterbury community for over 30 years. We work with children between the ages of 6 weeks and 6 years; participating with the local public school system to provide high quality preschool services to the community. HMCC is now involved in bringing about environmental change through participation in Green Up Days, initiating a school wide recycling program, using recyclables in classroom art projects, replacing plastic food sets with recycled real world objects, reducing paper usage through the use of email for written communication, and relying on the use of eco friendly cleaning products. We also participate in evironmental and social change themed trainings to learn new ideas.
