Friday, October 18, 1968
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
13
New day care center opens for children
"I'LL HELP YOU."
Margaret Faulkner shows Mark Vann where a part of a puzzle belongs. The children are playing during an afternoon activity session at the United Child Care Center.
A small child's mind has no room for politics and prejudices.
Instead, a small child turns to puzzles, baking imaginary cakes and sliding down a slide, not caring of what race or creed is the person he's playing with.
In an integrated situation, three and four-year-olds are learning to adjust and live with those less fortunate or of different nationalities or colors than they are.
This situation is part of what a new children's day care center is striving towards.
The new center, the United Child Care Center, was established this fall to aid underprivileged children whose mothers have to work, and to provide a care center for any children whose mother cannot be at home.
Mrs. Frank Bencevigo, director of the center, says that the center is encouraging KU married students to enroll their children in the center. "We are encouraging this so that the children will be surrounded by a cross-section of children that they might be competing with later in life." she said.
The center opened partly because of the lack of day care centers in Lawrence. Prior to its opening, the only centers in Lawrence were private home situations and Headstart's program, said Mrs. Bencevingo.
At least these centers provide care for the children, but the new center is operating on the principle of making the time for the children a profitable one.
"We hope to make it a learning experience. We give the less fortunate children a chance to compete . . children are very perceptive and they will notice all that goes on," said Mrs. Bencevingo.
In an academic line, the children are given stories, number games and reading readiness preparation.
"I CAN BE SUPERMAN."
Dana Brown prepares to slide off the small slide which is part of the play equipment at the day care center. Laura Makepeace watches him from the top of the ladder.
The children's activities also include trips to places of interest in Lawrence. They make about two trips a month. This month, they're visiting the library, the fire house and a pumpkin patch.
The center provides a hot lunch and two snacks for the children. However, the morning snack has become more like a breakfast. "We found that some of the children weren't getting breakfast, so we had to give them more food," said Mrs. Bencevingo.
Organized on a non-profit basis, the center is located in the basement of the First Methodist Church at 9th and Vermont. The movement to establish the center began last April as a project of the Outreach Commission of the Methodist Church, said Dennis Bowers, associate minister of the church.
The church has loaned the center and rooms and play equipment.
Mrs. Bencevingo is a graduate of KU in sociology. She is employed to direct the center. The rest of the staff is made up of volunteers.
There are 14 openings still available in the center. The center is licensed for 32 children, so it has been operating underenrolled with 18.
Many Lawrence residents and
KU students don't realize that there are federal funds available that pay for the day care service.
"If a family is not able to pay the $17.50 for the service, they can apply to the center for aid." Mrs. Bencevingo said.
The funds are made available through the Federal Day Care Fund appropriations. To be eligible for the aid, a family's income must be below $3000 a year, allowing $600 over that amount for each dependent.
"YES. IT SMELLS GOOD ..."
Shahpeur Talegami plays with KU student volunteer, Daryl Dennis at the center.
Japanese author receives Nobel literature prize
STOCKHOLM (UPI)—The 1968 Nobel Prize for literature was awarded Thursday to Japanese author Yasunari Kawabata, citing his latest novel and its "warning against the turbulent Americanizing of post-war Japan."
Anders Oesterling, Nobel Committee member, Thursday night singled out Kawabata's latest novel, "Kyoto," a book about an orphan girl who grows up in the patriarchic surroundings of a silk merchant.
"But of course it is an appeal and warning from the writer himself against the turbulent Americanizing of postwar Japan," Oesterling said.
Last year, the Nobel Prize for literature went to Miguel Angel Asturias of Guatemala for his book which criticized the United States "Banana Republic" policies in Central America.
On Wednesday, the Nobel Prize for medicine was awarded to three Americans—Marshall Wm. Nirenberg, Robert W. Holey and Indian-born Har Gobind Khorana—for their works on the genetic code and heredity.
Orphaned at the age of three, the 69-year-old Kawabata developed a sense of loneliness and wantterlust which he wove into his books with such individuality of style it became knows in Japan as "Kawabata Literature."
Photographs
The citation by the Nobel Committee lauded Kawabata "for his narrative mastership, which with great sensitivity expressed the essence of the Japanese mind." He is the first Japanese author to become a Nobel Laureate.
by
Kawabata, contacted in Tokyo, said he hoped to be able to go to Stockholm to receive the $70,000 prize, gold medal and diplomat at a ceremony Dec. 10 in the Concert Hall.
Wild Chime
Mike Gunther
NOTTINGHAM. England (UPI)—The village clock start- ed chiming at five o'clock and went to chime 900 times.
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CONTACT
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K 2-1793
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THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS THEATRE
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Monday, October 21
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