‘We've built more than a school:' ChristKids celebrates 25 years with Silver Spring Fling
Located on Tulare Avenue in Visalia, the school is an outreach to the community that offers private faith-based subsidized child care and preschool classes for children ages 2 through 5.
'ChristKids is a place where every child will experience quality child care that prepares them for kindergarten,' said Noel Thompson, director of youth ministry at Christ Lutheran. "They will leave our preschool knowing that they are always loved by God, no matter what.'
Planning for the school began in the 1990s and it took over nine years for a dedicated team to create a licensed preschool center.
'It's a gift to the children and a gift to the congregation,' said retired pastor Barry Vail, a key members of the team that established ChristKids. 'It really is a gift that keeps on giving.'
On May 3, Christ Lutheran Church members and ChristKids staff, students and their families will gather to honor the school's 25th anniversary for their Silver Spring Fling. The celebration includes free food trucks, a silent auction to raise money for upgrades to the facility and scholarships for future students.
It's also a time for the community to meet the school's new director, Tiffeny Nunes. She was hired as the Christ Kids Preschool & Childcare director in November.
'I can say with joy and confidence that what truly sets us apart is our deep commitment to nurturing the whole child—mind, body, and spirit—in a loving, Christ-centered environment," Nunes said. "For over two decades, we've built more than a school. We've built a faith-based community where children feel safe, known and celebrated."
During the event, families are encouraged to tour classrooms and view the artwork and projects the students have created.
'Our goal for this year's fundraiser is twofold; to celebrate the legacy of love and learning that ChristKids has cultivated over 25 years and to raise funds to invest in the future of our school—enhancing our classrooms, upgrading playground equipment, and expanding resources for both spiritual and academic development. As well, as building our scholarships fund," Nunes said. "We want this Spring Fling to be a joyful gathering of past and present families, supporters, and staff—a true reflection of the heart of ChristKids. Together, we can plant seeds for the next 25 years of impact.'
In recent months, the school has expanded to offer child care for children as young as 2 years old.
This change was made to accommodate more families looking for quality child care for toddlers in Visalia and to allow the school to remain open as more parents are choosing to send their children to free preschool and TK programs offered on public elementary school campuses.
"Our passionate teachers go beyond early academics; they guide children in kindness, compassion, creativity, and curiosity—all rooted in the teachings of Jesus," Nunes said. "From our small class sizes to our individualized care, from joyful worship songs to hands-on learning, Christ Kids is a place where children grow with purpose and families feel supported every step of the way.'
California has a significant unmet need for affordable child care, with only a fraction of eligible children receiving subsidized care, according to California's budget and Policy Center. The state needs to make "significant and sustainable investments" in expanding subsidized child care options, particularly for infants and toddlers, according to the center's website.
The demand for subsidized child care has outpaced supply. An analysis of 2022 data shows the continuation of this trend, underscoring the need for a larger supply of subsidized child care spaces in California.
A 2022 Current Population Survey, the latest data, shows that the number of preschool age children enrolled in all U.S. schools, both federally funded and private, increased by 13%, from 40.3% in 2020, the first year of the pandemic, to 53.3% in 2022 when the pandemic emergency ended.
With the cost of living steadily increasing, more parents are being forced to find affordable child care for younger children, and options for private child care centers in Tulare County are limited.
Families can apply for assistance through Connections for Quality Care with Tulare County Office of Education www.tcoe.org
What: ChristKids Silver Spring Fling
When: Saturday, May 3 from 5-7:30 p.m.
Where: Christ Lutheran Church, 3830 W. Tulare Avenue in Visalia
Who: CLC members and all ChristKids families and staff (past and present)
This article originally appeared on Visalia Times-Delta: ChristKids celebrates 25 years in Visalia with Silver Spring Fling
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In Egypt in the fourth and fifth centuries we have irrefutable evidence from papyri, monastic letters, and episcopal writings for women who practiced asceticism in their family homes, in homes they themselves owned or rented, and in communities of women [monasteries].' In general, asceticism meant abstaining from sex (even if married), limiting one's food intake, withdrawing from the world, rigorous engagement with prayer, and a life of discomfort and seclusion. These practices were not limited to Egypt. In Syria, we have copious evidence documenting what might be considered more extreme forms of asceticism. Schroeder mentioned a ninth-century male monk who described a women's monastery he encountered where residents lived in seclusion as stylites. Stylites 'were monks who lived for years atop a tall pillar, often exposed to nature's elements and totally dependent upon people on the ground to provide them with food and water,' Schroeder explained. 'The most famous is the original stylite, Symeon the Elder, who lived on his pillar for 36 years, praying, doing prostrations and other exercises, and experiencing physical decay. People came from all over for his blessings, to hear his preaching, and also to request his judgments in disputes between individuals and political leaders.' Stylites were physically constrained by the pillars—they were not able to stretch out fully, there were no bathroom breaks (which caused quite a stench), and they were exposed to the elements—and they also survived on limited sustenance and without the comfort of companionship. Schroeder pointed out that 'a monastery with women stylites is evidence that some women practiced as physically rigorous and severe asceticism as men.' With respect to the new study of the chained woman from outside Jerusalem, Schroeder pointed to an example recorded by fifth-century CE theologian Theodoret of Cyrrhus in his Religious History. In this collection of saint's lives, Theodoret describes visiting two Syriac sisters, Marana and Cyra, who wore heavy iron rings and chains as a form of extreme self-denial. According to Theodoret, these women lived in a roofless house—that exposed them to the unforgiving elements—the door of which had been sealed with mud and stones so that they were shut off from the world and unable to leave. Small windows allowed for food and water to be passed to the women. (Schroeder told me that Theodoret says that, since he was a bishop, they allowed him to dig through the door to see them.) The women wore iron collars, iron belts, and chains on their hands and feet. Even though the two women were secluded from the world, they, like Symeon the Stylite, became ancient Christian celebrities. They attracted pilgrims who travelled to receive their blessing. Saint Donatus, priest and anchorite, from "Les Images De Tous Les Saincts et Saintes de L'Année" (Images of All of the Saints and Religious Events of the Year.) Print By Jacques Callot , The Metropolitan Museum of Art Gender is a complicating question when it comes to asceticism because some women dressed as men when they entered monasteries. Dr. Christine Luckritz Marquis, Associate Professor of Church History at Union Presbyterian Seminary and author of 'Better Off Dead? Violence, Women, and Late Ancient Asceticism,' said 'the reality is that we have many individuals who were trans saints. While some women might merely dress as male monks to safely practice asceticism among men, there is no reason to believe that others did not truly feel themselves trans monks. And some men were castrated, becoming eunuchs for God, so they too did not fit into a simple two-sex binary.' The more fluid gender categories were complicated by the ambivalent attitude that male religious leaders had toward women in general. For commentators like Theodoret, Schroeder added, ascetic women were 'a bit of a paradox… On the one hand, women were viewed as inherently weaker than men and also the gender that carried the guilt of Eve for breaking God's command in the Garden of Eden. But on the other hand, they were capable of such strenuous devotions and, when they achieved them, were seen as even extra holy for going beyond the expectations of their gender.' An anchorhold against the south wall of All Saints church in Norfolk, United Kingdom. Built circa 1500 CE, it would have housed an anchorite devoted to solitary prayer. Photograph By UrbanImages/ Alamy From late antiquity onwards, into the medieval period, women's asceticism persisted. Anchorites—men and women who walled themselves up in permanent enclosures in lifelong solitary confinement—became more common among European women. Many of them lived in small cells, known as anchorholds, that were attached to local churches. In German-speaking regions, bishops would say the office for the dead as the anchorite entered their cell as a symbol of the ascetic's death to the world. Though small windows allowed them a limited view of the church's altar and access to food, water and the Eucharist, anchorites took vows to remain in their cells. The eleventh-century hagiographer Goscelin of Saint-Bertin refers to several anchorites who burned—or came close to burning—alive when the towns in which they lived in were sacked or looted. Other women embraced physical suffering an illness. In her book Holy Feast and Holy Fast, Caroline Walker Bynum documents the centrality of pain and illness to the spiritual lives of late medieval women. For those women even self-inflicted illness was a way of drawing near to God. Bynum writes that 'some Italian saints drank pus or scabs from lepers' sores.' In the German Nonnenbücher, a fourteenth-century collection of inspirational spiritual biographies of nuns authored by women, the desire for illness was so strong that the sisters exposed themselves 'to bitter cold' and prayed 'to be afflicted with leprosy.' The late fourteenth century, French anchoress Jane Mary of Maillé, 'stuck a thorn into her head in remembrance of Christ's crown of thorns.' As late as the sixteenth century, an account of the life of St. Alda of Siena recalled that she slept on a bed of paving stones, whipped herself with chains, and wore a crown of thorns. 'Among the more bizarre female behaviors' in this period, writes Bynum, 'were rolling in broken glass, jumping into ovens, hanging from a gibbet, and praying upside down.' For modern readers the critical question is why late antique people would want to engage in these practices of self-punishment and self-effacement at all. Theodoret characterizes Marana and Cyra's ascetic devotion as a kind of spiritual athleticism. Schroeder explained that the women took on these goals 'on these challenging practices with joy, knowing that the 'goal' or prize of their contests is a 'crown of victory' and eternity with Christ their 'beloved.'' Luckritz Marquis agreed, saying that while there were many reasons that people practiced asceticism, the goal was 'ultimately to be closer to God.'
