From Classroom to Community: Fuller Center’s Valentine’s Day Proclamation Touches Lives in Multiple Cities

Contact: Toni Hassinger
305-240-8894
thassinger@fullercenterfl.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Boca Raton, FL. February 20^th, 2024 – Fuller Center, an institute that’s dedicated over 50 years to embracing, educating and empowering under-resourced families and children in Palm Beach and Broward Counties is thrilled to announce the resounding success of its “Our Hearts Are Fuller” proclamation on Valentine’s Day. This heartfelt initiative garnered widespread acceptance from five cities, underscoring the profound impact of love and compassion in our community.

Valentine’s Day, celebrated globally as a day of love and affection, took on a deeper significance this year as the Fuller Center embarked on a mission to spread love beyond its classrooms. Through its “Our Hearts Are Fuller” campaign, the Center encouraged community members to join hands, hearts, and efforts in supporting Fuller Center’s mission, contributing to the collective endeavor of creating a community where opportunities abound for every child and family.

The Cities of Boca Raton, Pompano Beach, Sunrise, and Boynton Beach and the School Board of Palm Beach County embraced the initiative wholeheartedly, joining hands with Fuller Center to celebrate the power of love in shaping young hearts and minds. Fuller Center offers a myriad of programs, including early childhood education, afterschool and summer camp programs, a private elementary school, teen leadership initiatives, and family-centered support services, addressing the diverse needs of our community.

“We are overwhelmed by the outpouring of support and participation we received for our ‘Our Hearts Are Fuller’ proclamation,” said Ellyn Okrent, CEO at Fuller Center. “This initiative exemplifies our commitment to instilling values of empathy, kindness, and respect in our children, preparing them to become compassionate leaders of tomorrow.”

The success of the “Our Hearts Are Fuller” campaign underscores Fuller Center’s unwavering dedication to providing a nurturing and inclusive environment where every child feels loved, valued, and empowered to make a positive difference in the world. Fuller Center serves as the “workforce behind the workforce,” at the forefront of support for essential and frontline working parents in the service, education and hospitality industries, with 62% of parents in their programs contributing to our community’s well-being.

As Fuller Center looks ahead, the staff, volunteers, supporters and Board remain steadfast in their commitment to inspire love, kindness, and compassion in young hearts everywhere, shaping a brighter future for generations to come.

For more information about Fuller Center and its initiatives, please visit www.fullercenterfl.org.

About the Fuller Center
For more than 50 years, the Fuller Center’s mission has been to embrace, educate, and empower hardworking, under-resourced families and children to reach their full potential. We build a positive future through education for the more than 900 children (infants through teens) whom we serve annually, as well as 600 of their family members. The Fuller Center reaches families in more than 40 zip codes throughout Palm Beach County, as well as northern Broward County.

65% of Fuller Center parents serve as essential or frontline workers, working in hospitals, retail outlets, restaurants, and hotels. They are our bus drivers, store clerks and cashiers, farmworkers, delivery drivers, security guards, bank tellers, office workers, healthcare workers, home health aides, hospital orderlies and cafeteria workers, and childcare and eldercare workers.

Our programs help empower children to start school prepared, succeed academically, and break the generational cycle of poverty through quality early childhood education, after-school and summer camp programs, our new private elementary school and teen leadership programs, and comprehensive, family-centered support services. They also empower parents who are essential to keeping our local economy open and who provide the vital services we all count on.

The Fuller Center also offers mentoring programs and adult on-the-job training, coaching, and employment support, and no-cost transportation from 12 area schools to our campus-based after-school programs. We serve more than 1,800 nutritious meals and snacks daily.

In addition, Fuller Center provides opportunities for local colleges and universities to place undergraduate and graduate students in internships and child development practicums.

East Campus: 200 NE 14th Street, Boca Raton FL 33432
West Campus: 10130 185th Street South, Boca Raton FL 33498
Intergenerational Program at The Volen Center: 1515 W Palmetto Park Road, Boca Raton, FL 33486

Facebook: @fullercenterfl
Instagram: @fullercenterfl

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