Thank you for taking the health and safety of our Alaska community to heart. The last few weeks have seen dramatic changes for nearly every family, and like you, we continue to monitor the spread of COVID-19 closely. Best Beginnings is committed to doing our part to slow its spread and support families during this time of need. A healthy Alaska is our number one priority. To that end we have made significant changes to our daily operations in order to continue to serve you and families across the state.
Here are some of the actions we have taken in response to the COVID-19 outbreak and various local, state, and national directives:
- Best Beginnings continues to operate, with all staff working from home. All meetings are now occurring via teleconference or online.
- We have cancelled all in-person events until further notice, including Anchorage Imagination Library Family Events, fundraisers, and screenings of The Library That Dolly Built previously scheduled for April 2nd and April 6th.
- All enrollment of new children in Anchorage Imagination Library is now happening online and through existing partnerships as volunteers’ in-person contact with new mothers in local hospitals has been curtailed.
- We are exploring alternatives to hosting our annual Partners Conference for the 28 Imagination Library affiliates in Alaska typically held in the spring. More information to come.
- Fulfillment of Amazon orders for Seasons of Alaska and Babies on Track continues so long as staff is able to access our office using the necessary precautions (one staff member at a time).
- Our digital communications strategy has shifted to focus on providing Alaska families with resources to help them during their increased time at home, including activities to support their child’s early learning at home. The response has been phenomenal – families are extremely grateful to have easy-to-implement ideas to keep their child entertained and learning using materials readily available in the home.
- We are actively working with our partners to assess community needs, and continue to advocate on behalf of Alaska families and young children.
One thing hasn’t changed though.
- Imagination Library books continue to be mailed every month to currently enrolled children – nearly 18,000 all across Alaska.
We know that this pandemic will have long-lasting financial impacts for families and businesses. We are not immune to that reality and are still assessing what the financial impact will be for our organization. As long as we can, Best Beginnings is committed to continue being a resource for families.
Now more than ever our community needs us – we have always said that parents are a child’s first and most influential teacher. It’s a job that isn’t easy on a good day, and much harder in times of uncertainty. We hope that the resources we provide can make that job a little easier, and more importantly, remind Alaskans that while they may be physically isolated, they are most certainly not alone.
