OPINION: Thumbs up to dance teacher for $22,000 grant

Thumbs up to Coker College dance professor Angela Gallo for receiving a $22,000 Dance Touring Initiative grant from the Southern Arts Federation. Gallo, who joined the Coker faculty in 2003, is an assistant professor of dance and coordinator of college’s dance major. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Central Connecticut State University and a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Michigan. In addition to teaching, Gallo is the artistic director of Sapphire Moon Dance Company based in Columbia. The grant will allow Gallo to enhance Coker College’s dance major by developing a stronger presentation of dance concerts while building local audiences for modern dance and contemporary ballet. During the next three-years, the SAF grant will provide Gallo with intensive professional development as well as peer mentorship and tour development assistance. It will also help pay for two high-caliber dance companies to come to Coker College for performances and workshops. With support from the grant, Gallo already has attended the prestigious Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival in Massachusetts where she met with dance companies, artistic directors and attended workshops.

Thumbs up to the parents and staff of Wilson’s Learning Center in Kingstree who have joined as partners in child abuse prevention. At 5 p.m., when parents arrive to pick up their children, Wilson’s offers child care and snacks to parents and staff who are willing to attend a weekly one-hour parenting session at the center. Topics include communicating with respect; positive ways to deal with stress and anger; practical ideas for addressing challenging behaviors; discipline versus punishment; and ages and stages of growth and development. The sessions serve as a way to engage and involve parents and, at the same time, give them knowledge and skills to effectively protect their children. Parents and providers are learning the same concepts. Parent involvement leads to better outcomes for children, including those in early care and education. “The classes have been really beneficial to both parents and staff,” said Angela McFadden of Wilson’s Learning Center. “We care about our children and families and are always seeking ways to grow and improve.” The classes are made possible as a part of a public awareness campaign for Keeping Pee Dee Kids Safe at Home, a program of Prevent Child Abuse Pee Dee, funded by the Children’s Trust of South Carolina.

Thumbs up to the Pee Dee Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Assault for being awarded a $1,500 grant from Target in recognition of its efforts to make the Pee Dee a safer, more compassionate community. The grant will help support the coalition’s Emergency Safe Shelter Children’s Program, which seeks to provide children of abused women with the same safety, services and support that are offered to their mothers. The children receive age-appropriate group and individual counseling and are taught body safety and the importance of talking about abuse. The grant is part of ongoing efforts by Target to strengthen families and communities throughout the country. The Pee Dee Coalition is a nonprofit, volunteer organization dedicated to the reduction of rape, family violence, and child abuse and to the needs of its victims. The United Way organization was founded in August 1986 on the belief that the reduction of rape, family violence, and child abuse is a community issue and concerns the total community — not just women and service providers — but all who value the basic human need to be free from physical threat and harm. For more information about the coalition and its services, as well as how to help, visit its Web site, http://www.peedeecoalition.org.