A Taste of Milk & Honey
It hurts, but I understand when someone turns down our request for financial support with the response, “We give to the poor but to programs that meet their real needs.” Meaning, of course, food and clothing, especially at Christmas.
Blessing on those programs; who could deny food and clothing to a child? The Craddock Center has a small emergency fund and not a week goes by without at least one claim on that purse. But that is not our primary mission. We are about the business of enriching lives, of lifting self-esteem, of instilling a sense of self-worth, of affecting socialization so that each child can play and study and grow as an equal to other children. We do this through songs, art, and stories. Studies show that participating in such programs increases a child’s success in school and in life in the community.
The records of some charities indicate that they give to children just as they gave to their parents and to their grandparents. Generation after generation the story continues the same.
Our goal is to break the cycle, to change the story. There are 13 million children living in depressing poverty in this country. But we get up each morning believing our small effort is making and will continue to make a difference. And every dollar we receive is an investment in that difference, and, on behalf of the children, we thank you.
- Written by Dr. Craddock, November 2004
From the Executive Director
Last year, the Women of Faith from Faith Presbyterian Church in Blue Ridge, Georgia, designated The Craddock Center as their annual recipient of their Mission Collection. On August 10, 2025, The Craddock Center received the check of $2,409 and I spoke for a few minutes about the work of The Craddock Center and expressed my gratitude for their support.
I am sharing what I said that Sunday morning because I know that you believe that ‘Children are our future’ because of your support of the work of The Craddock Center for 25 years.
Good morning,
We often hear the phrase, “Children are our future.” It’s easy to nod in agreement, but I want to take a few minutes to invite us to reflect on what that truly means.
Children are our legacy. They are the ones who will carry forward our values, our faith, and our dreams. The lessons we teach them today—through our words, actions, and priorities—will echo into the world they inherit. Whether it’s love, justice, compassion, or resilience, the next generation will walk forward in the direction we set for them now.
Scripture reminds us in Proverbs 22:6: “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” This is both a promise and a challenge. Are we guiding our children toward faith, integrity, and purpose? Are we investing in their spiritual, educational, and emotional needs?
Children also shape society. They will become our leaders, our teachers, our caregivers, our inventors, and yes—our pastors and prophets. The decisions they make tomorrow will be rooted in what they learn today. That’s why our investment in children’s education, safety, faith formation, and a sense of belonging is one of the most important investments we can ever make.
And let us not forget: children are a source of hope. They remind us that new beginnings are always possible. In their energy, their imagination, and their fearless questions, we are reminded of what is still to come. Children see the world not just as it is, but as it could be—and that is a gift we should treasure.
Most importantly, Jesus held children in the highest regard. In Matthew 19:14, he said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” He didn’t just welcome them, he lifted them up as examples of faith, trust, and humility.
25 years ago, Dr. Fred Craddock and The Craddock Center responded to a need and began an innovative approach to help Pre-K and Head Start children in southern Appalachia prepare for kindergarten. Dr. Craddock said, “we are about the business of enriching lives, of lifting self-esteem, of instilling a sense of self-worth, of effecting socialization so that each child can play and study and grow as an equal to other children.” Today we serve nearly 1,200 three- and four-year-olds in nine counties in this area and 208 of those precious children are from Fannin County.
Faith Presbyterian does so much to invest in the future of our children: Snack in the Backpack, Open Arms, the Thornwell Home for Children, Summer Meals, Sunny D Children’s theater, and Fannin Foster Families just to name a few.
Faith Presbyterian and The Craddock Center believe in a better future—one filled with love, peace, and God’s justice. To achieve this, we must begin with our children. We must protect them, listen to them, guide them, and walk alongside them. Because in every child, God has planted the seeds of tomorrow’s world.
Thank you, Women of Faith, for nurturing these seeds with care, courage, and commitment and thank you for the investment you have made for our children and the work of The Craddock Center.
Welcome to Our New Arts Specialist!!
Our Arts Specialist make our Children’s Enrichment Program a reality. Their primary role is to love children and to engage and enrich them through music and movement. The Arts Specialists conduct 30-minute music and movement classes with nearly 1,200 three- and four-year-old children in southern Appalachia during 30 weeks of the school year. They use music & song, instruments, props, movement, puppets, storytelling, and routines to encourage children to sing, move, dance, and play. They build vocabulary and self-esteem and promote gross motor and rhythmic skills. The Craddock Center is excited to welcome our newest Art Specialist, Donna Collins!
Donna Collins, Arts Specialist
Donna Collins has spent her life nurturing a love of learning in children and teachers alike. Her journey in early childhood education began in the summer of 1990, shortly after earning her Associate’s degree, when she helped establish the preschool at the United Methodist Church in Blue Ridge, Georgia. While teaching, she pursued and completed her Bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education in 1992. Donna went on to serve as the Curriculum Specialist for Fannin County Head Start before joining Cherokee County Schools in 1995 as a Title I Pre-Kindergarten teacher. Over the next 30 years, she dedicated herself to early education, teaching Pre-K and Kindergarten, and later serving as the Preschool Exceptional Children’s Coordinator for the district. Along the way, she earned her Master’s degree, achieved National Board Certification, and was honored with a Teacher of the Year award. Growing up in the Appalachian region, Donna experienced the power of storytelling firsthand. Although her family had limited access to books, her father’s imaginative and animated tales sparked her lifelong passion for stories. As an adult, she filled her home with books, ensuring her own children always had access to the magic and lessons found within their pages. Now retired, Donna continues to share that magic through her work with The Craddock Center. As a self-proclaimed “collector of children’s books,” she delights in visiting classrooms and inspiring young minds with stories. For Donna, a book is meant to be shared—and she’s dedicated to helping the next generation discover the joy, wonder, and wisdom that stories can bring.
Giving Tuesday is coming December 2, 2025
Without you, we could not enrich the lives of the children and families we have reached out to in the last 25 years. I keep going back to part of our mission statement…”We serve by Sharing.” Our donors exemplify this!
Please consider a gift to The Craddock Center this upcoming holiday season. Your generosity ensures the work of The Craddock Center is sustained and the children and families we serve continue to reap the benefits of our programs.
You can go to our website, craddockcenter.org, and use the ‘DONATE’ button found on our home page or mail your donation to PO BOX 69, Cherry Log, GA 30522.
Thank you in advance for your continued support and generosity!
Songs & Stories 2026
Songs & Stories returns to The Craddock Center on February 7, 2026!
Last year we were especially excited and honored that John McCutcheon, a world-traveled musician, songwriter, and folksinger, returned as the performer for this event. He thrilled our guests with beautiful folk music.
And Natalie Jones, one of our Arts Specialists, provided lively and humorous storytelling. She shared examples of both her storytelling work with children at our preschools and her personal stories crafted
for grown-up audiences.
As always, admission was free, and our guests responded with very generous donations. The money raised will go towards the purchase of new books for the little ones we serve.
Songs & Stories was started by Dr. Fred Craddock over twenty years ago. He wanted something in the winter that people could enjoy. We offer an event that brings people together to have a fun winter afternoon highlighting the old Appalachian traditions of storytelling and folk music.
Welcome New Board Members
A nonprofit board plays a vital role in keeping the organization strong and mission-focused. The board:
- Guides the Mission – Ensures the nonprofit stays true to its purpose.
- Provides Oversight – Monitors finances, policies, and ethical practices.
- Sets Direction – Helps shape strategy and long-term goals.
- Supports Fundraising – Opens doors to resources and advocates for the cause.
- Builds Trust – Brings credibility and accountability to the organization.
A strong board is the backbone of a thriving nonprofit, blending leadership, accountability, and support to help the mission succeed and The Craddock Center is blessed to have a Board comprised of individuals passionate for our work.
Welcome to our four new Board Members:
Dr. Max White
A native Georgian, Max was born in Rome in 1951 and grew up in a nearby mill village, Shannon, where both parents worked in a Burlington cotton mill. He attended the local county school through the fifth grade before my parents moved to Atlanta for his father’s employment with Delta Airlines. Max finished public elementary school in Dekalb County and by then he had fully developed a passion for a career in medicine. He graduated from Emory University with a B.S. in 1973 and Emory University School of Medicine in 1977 on a U.S. Navy scholarship. Max completed a residency in General Surgery and Urology at the Naval Medical Center San Diego in 1983.
After completing his naval service in San Diego in 1986, he joined the medical school faculty in the Division of Urology at Emory and served in that professorship until leaving Emory for private practice at Piedmont Atlanta Hospital in 1991. He practiced Urology within the Piedmont Healthcare system for 33 years.
He still practices in an emergency locum tenens role at hospitals around the country about 7-10 days per month. He serves as an elder at Faith Presbyterian Church, as a board member in the Blue Ridge Mountain chapter of Trout Unlimited and as a member of the local detachment of the Marine Corps League where he has been active in the annual Toys for Tots campaign.
His interest in the The Craddock Center and its mission is fueled by his own rise from a three-room house in a cotton mill village to the above career because of parents and grandparents who made the quality of his education a priority at a very early age. Realizing that he was very fortunate to grow up in a family with meager means but supportive of his education at an early age, Max is keenly interested in serving any organization that fills that gap for other children less fortunate in their early path of education.
Debbi Westcott
Debbi Westcott brings over two decades of passionate leadership in youth ministry, theater arts, and community engagement. Currently serving as Youth Director at Ellijay First UMC, she creates programming and outreach opportunities for middle/high school students and young adults. For nearly 17 years, she served as a volunteer of the Blue Ridge Community Theater Sunny D Children’s Theater, mentoring young adults, directing productions, recruiting volunteers, and fundraising.
Debbi’s commitment to youth development extends beyond traditional ministry roles. As a founding advisor for both the Blue Ridge Pathfinders Key Club and Sunny D Thespian Club, she has guided countless young people in service and creative expression. A dedicated volunteer in her free time, she continues homeschooling her teenage son, follows Formula One racing, and adds to her collection of “unnecessary books”. Debbi holds a BA in Liberal Arts from the University of Connecticut and resides in Blue Ridge, GA, with her husband and a variety of pets.
Earline Crooke
Earline grew up in Ellijay. After college she moved to Atlanta and worked first as a secretary and then a paralegal in the area of Public Finance for 40+ years. After the death of her father, she moved back to Ellijay in 2006 and continued working in Atlanta making the drive every day. Earline really likes living in the same house where she grew up. In 2023 she retired, but recently went back to work part-time working remotely from home.
Earline became acquainted with Fred and Nettie Craddock and The Craddock Center at Cherry Log Christian Church. She believes in the mission of The Craddock Center and is pleased to be on the Board.
Pat Hrdy
Pat and his wife Debbie have lived in Mineral Bluff for four years. They moved to north Georgia from Birmingham, where they had been for 27 years. They have 3 adult sons, 2 daughters in law, and 2 grandsons (3 and 10 months). Pat has been in banking for over 40 years, including the past 32 with Regions Bank and its predecessors, and works remote from home. He currently leads the credit group for the Commercial Specialties segment, which includes the Government and Institutional Banking group (covering governmental entities, higher education, public and private K-12, as well as foundations and other charitable organizations). In that role, he has significant experience working with non-profits throughout the Bank’s 15 state footprint.
What are the teachers telling us?
As we wrap up each school year, the teachers and Directors of the Head Start and Pre-K programs we serve are sent a Children’s Enrichment Program evaluation. There feedback is important to The Craddock Center. It helps us improve our programming and highlights those things we should continue to provide.
The feedback below was received in May 2025 for the last school year:
“We love all that The Craddock Center does for the children.”
“This program is wonderful and certainly helps us to engage the children in literacy in different modalities.”
“We appreciate all that you provide throughout the school year. It helps us engage and reach our children in the world of literacy.”
“Storytime and music helps the children’s love of reading and literacy. Props and fingerplays and songs help children make a connection and helps to learn new vocabulary.”
“The children are excited to go in and see what the day’s story and activities are. Whenever I walk by, the kids are normally engaged and happy.”
“The story time definitely relates to GA Pre-K standards and our curriculum. Pre-K is all about bringing stories to life and make connections. Ms. Sheila does a fantastic job with this!”
“Love the hands on activities and the opportunities to take turns and help encourage listening skills.”
“Our students love to go hear stories from Ms. Sheila. It has helped to build a love for reading.”
Your generosity and gifts to The Craddock Center make all of this possible. As a reminder, all of our programming is provided at no cost to the schools. Please continue to help us positively impact the nearly 1,200 three- and four-year-old children we serve each year.
Smart Babies!
Smart Babies is a program provided by The Craddock Center that is designed to help parents of children, ages 0-5, to be their child’s best first teacher. We use the curriculum, Ready for Kindergarten. Parents attend three 90-minute workshops per age level and go home with lots of knowledge, 3-4 age-appropriate toys and 3-5 age-appropriate books for their children. This is at no cost to the participants!
The curriculum focuses on three areas: Language and Literacy, Math and Reasoning, and Social and Emotional Learning. In the last newsletter, we discussed how we work with the parents and demonstrate to them the importance of developing language skills during these early years. Today, we will cover some of the activities and tools we use to help the parents to encourage math and reasoning skills.
Currently, students are expected to start kindergarten knowing the following targets in math and reasoning:
- Counts in order from 1 to 20
- Recognizes numbers and quantities to 10
- Names and sorts items by color, shape, and size
- Understands concepts such as “greater than,” “less than,” and “equal to”
Yes, things have changed. These concepts used to be taught in kindergarten. Children who start kindergarten without these skills often have great difficulty catching up to their fellow students. In Smart Babies workshops, we give the parents the knowledge and tools to expose their children to these concepts.
During the first year, babies can hear parents count. Parents can count the number of cheerios, pieces of fruit, or talk about the parts of the child’s body. “You have two eyes, one, two: I have two eyes, one two.” “You have one nose, one; I have one nose,” etc. A baby can learn the concept, More.
We share a delightful book with the parents called More that shows a baby asking for more. You may be thinking that every parent knows they should be interacting with their children in this way. Sadly, some do not. This has never been modeled for them. That is why we do these workshops. Even if they have, we teach, model and share new ideas and the parents are always delighted to learn them!
Babies in the first year also can learn about colors and patterns. Some of the books and toys can extend in to older ages. For example, look at the classic toy, the bead maze. Initially, it may be used just to point out colors and do simple counting. For toddlers, it can be used for shapes, patterns and counting to higher numbers.
We give the parents many books that emphasize numbers and math concepts. We also stress rhymes. The 1,2,3,4,5, Once I caught a Fish Alive helps children count to 10. Five Little Monkeys teaches subtraction. There are so many fun ways to explore math and reasoning!
Our dream is to start with parents of infants and continue through age five with the program. We want their child to walk into kindergarten with an air of confidence and for them to have a successful school experience.
To close, we need to mention that in the state of Georgia, kindergarten is not mandatory and only about 30% of our children go to preschool. Just think how important it is that the parents be “ their child’s best first teacher.” That is the purpose of Smart Babies.
Bev Cook, Smart Babies Coordinator
Lives Touched, Stories Shared
We wanted to add a “human voice” to the Milk & Honey Newsletter by sharing real stories, in their own words, from our volunteers and donors to show the tangible impact of the work of The Craddock Center.
Maureen Hicks – Smart Babies Workshop Facilitator
When I worked as a Speech/Language Pathologist in the public schools, I often talked to my co-workers about how we could get the word out to pre-school parents about maximizing their children’s early speech and language development. We believed that early intervention was a key to success and we also knew that there are many natural ways of incorporating speech and language experiences into daily life. Two years ago, I was excited to begin volunteering with the Smart Babies program offered by The
Craddock Center to parents of young children in Gilmer and Fannin counties. This was the information I’d dreamed of years before and it was being offered to parents, with materials, free of charge! Three times a year, this program provides board books, high quality learning toys, and ideas for how parents can be their child’s “first, best teacher”. Meeting in small groups gives parents opportunities to meet other parents and share experiences, ask questions, and share ideas. This year the Smart Babies program is expanding to offer classes for parents of children from birth through five years. I am pleased to be part of a program to offer this resource to families in preparing their children for kindergarten. Thanks, Craddock
Center, for continuing to supply “happy and hope”!
Robin Massaro – President of The Craddock Center Board
I have been on the Board of Directors for The Craddock Center since 2021. What impresses me is that regardless of what is happening in our world, the mission of The Craddock Center stays relevant. The Craddock Center delivers educational and cultural programs to children, families, and communities primarily in southern Appalachia. The world around us may change but never our mission. We continue to find new ways to get our programs out to the community. Coming out of what was a very trying time, the pandemic, we began to grow and push out new programs, such as Summer Send Off and Smart Babies, to better serve those we serve. I have seen with my own eyes what The Craddock Center means to the lives we touch. Better than that, I know we are bettering their lives. I am so very blessed to work alongside people that have a passion for our mission and put everything into ensuring that we stay relevant and capable of continuing to serve our communities.
Make Wishes Come True for the children The Craddock Center Serves!!
Each year The Craddock Center serves nearly 1,200 three- and four-year-olds in Head Start and Pre-K classrooms in nine counties in our southern Appalachian region. This is what the teachers told us about us returning in September 2025:
“We look forward to seeing you soon.”
Jennifer Hooper, Teacher, East Fannin Pre-K
“We are looking forward to seeing you all this year. Thank you for all that you do!!!!!”
Marybeth Moss, Director, Union County Head Start
“Thank you so much for supporting us and our students. We can’t wait to have Mrs. Liese back with us.”
Savannah Wilson, Teacher, Copper Basin Pre-K
“I really appreciate you giving us the extra community support.”
Scott Bryant, Teacher, Blue Ridge Pre-K Special Ed
“We are excited for this year! Thank you!”
April DeHart, Director, Andrews Head Start
“Thanks for all that you do for our students, it is very much appreciated.”
Melissa Violet, Director, Dawson County Head Start
We need the following for our little ones during this school year: 4,800 new children’s books, 1,200 pairs of gloves, and the supplies for Summer Send Off (zip lock bags, brown paper bags, crayons, and stickers). Using the Amazon “Wish List” below, you can order these items for The Craddock Center, and they will be delivered to us. Please go to craddockcenter.org to learn more about our programs.
https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/33CGISEAZLV36?ref_=wl_share
Do you know about the Living Room?
The Living Room is a furniture and household goods outreach program stocked wholly from donations from our surrounding community. This outreach of The Craddock Center grew significantly during the pandemic and continues to grow since.
Used and occasionally new furniture and household items are shared with families who are in crisis, recovering from fire, eviction, mold infestation, or family violence. We often see young families with small children visiting The Living Room in search of very simple items such as a table, a chair, or a set of dishes. We have a partnership with Family Connections in Gilmer and Fannin Counties and Faith, Hope, and Chairty. This has enabled us to offer support to more organizations such as the Women’s Crisis Center. The Living Room is open every day for donations and open to families to select their items two days a week.
The Craddock Center provided furniture and household goods to 117 families and individuals last year. This was an increase of 16% from the previous fiscal year.