Talitha Koum Institute

How delightful to be privileged with friends who care! If you have garage sale items, join in!

It's dandelion time at Talitha Koum! Do you see dandelions as weeds or wish makers? Little children just love to see the spores blow off. A moment of cause and effect.

Nature provides learning wherever you are so, if you're standing on concrete, look up!

It's dandelion time at Talitha Koum! Do you see dandelions as weeds or wish makers? Little children just love to see the spores blow off. A moment of cause and effect.

Nature provides learning wherever you are so, if you're standing on concrete, look up!

Diana, the newest edition to our infant room, studied anthropology and philosophy at Austin College in Sherman. Originally from Athens, TX, she moved to Waco in 2021 and came to us a year after discovering a love of childcare as a Counselor at the YMCA and Behavioral Specialist at Kids R Kids. She chose to work at Talitha Koum because she sees our therapeutic program of care as highly aware of cultural and systemic issues. In her work, Diana found a natural talent for approaching children from a place of understanding. There's no better pick-me-up than watching Diana rock a child to sleep with a smile!

Excited to see everyone tomorrow! 🐰

UPDATE: Due to poor weather this past Saturday, we postponed the Easter Bunny to THIS weekend, March 23rd!

UPDATE: Due to poor weather this past Saturday, we postponed the Easter Bunny to THIS weekend, March 23rd!

A recent Business grad fresh back to Waco, LaDon is excited for more than just reconnecting with old friends: he's getting hands-on experience in the Pre-K classroom. With a dream of teaching 5th-6th grade music classes, he's happy to take a step in his journey by working with Talitha Koum's little ones. Introduced to us by our preschool teacher Areon, LaDon has already settled into caring for our children. His confidence helps our students feel secure, and his laughter keeps the school day fun.

Saturday was a community volunteer twosome when Renew Church's middle school youth group joined National Charity League's seventh graders and a few moms to sterilize every toy, doorknob, and classroom. The NCL gals braved the off-and-on rain with rake, shovel, and weeders in hand.

If your group would like to join us, we have openings beginning Saturday mornings in May. Fill out our website interest form at https://www.talithakoum.org/volunteer to let us know!

Come see us tomorrow!

Hop over to meet the Easter Bunny!

Crying is one way that your body relieves stress. Tears physically wash out stress hormones and built-up toxins, so don't be afraid to cry, even in front of your children. Remember how often they cry in front of you! When kids are sad, hurt, afraid, even mad, they cry... loudly.

Holding back tears adds to your stress and may affect your children even more than seeing you cry. If you allow yourself to feel your feelings, just say, "Mommy is sad right now, but I'm okay. And you're okay. You have done nothing to make me sad. Our Big Feelings just are."

If you prefer, schedule a time to cry each day, especially when grieving a loss. Tears will eventually subside. And often, a relief follows that tells you, "I've had a GOOD cry."

Preschool teacher Curtis Cannon returned to Talitha Koum after some time caring for loved ones in his home state of California. From 2009 to 2015, he was one of our treasured teachers. He decided to move back to Waco specifically to teach at TKI, because he had already "made it home." With a degree in Theatre Arts, Curtis’s “characters” can have us rolling with laughter but, to our children, he is the tall, gentle man they know they can trust. Outside of his time at Talitha Koum, Curtis managed rental properties, flipped houses, and worked as a large mammal keeper to care for elephants and large cats at Cameron Park Zoo. Welcome back, Curtis!

Hop over to meet the Easter Bunny!

Newly from Denton, Karlie earned a B.S. degree in Family Science and a Master of Educational Psychology from UNT. She spent the previous 3 years working under TLT, Tomorrow's Leaders Today to nurture community involvement, create teaching curriculum, and develop instructional aids for the classroom. While the move to teach one-year-old toddlers at TKI has been a big switch, she's prepared to learn as much as possible in the process of becoming a therapeutic teacher. To our children, Karlie is a calming presence with a bright smile. We're happy to call her part of the team!

We love welcoming community members and students to work alongside us to organize donations, sanitize classrooms, and complete all kinds of projects. This past Saturday, the Young Men's Service League’s 9th and 11th grade classes and BU’s Psychology Club offered us the extra hands to make things happen!

If you’d like to volunteer with your service organization, church group, or individually, we’d love for you to spend the summer with us. To volunteer Saturdays 10am-noon from May to August, contact Blake Garvelli at [email protected].

What do all children want from their parents that won't cost you a dime?
1) Silence your phone and leave it in another room.
2) Find a quiet place with one son, daughter, or grandchild.
3) Ask: "What is one important thing you want me to know about your life right now? I promise I won't be nosy or give advice unless you ask for it."
4) LISTEN. Just listen.
5) Say: "Thanks. I really love to hear what you're thinking and feeling."

Work toward doing that once a week. Eventually, you will hear something VERY important.

Originally from Austin, Areon Bradford holds a B.S. in Psychology from Prairie View A&M University with a minor in Chemistry. She is excited to learn Talitha Koum’s methods and, in the future, open a private counseling practice. Based on her kindness and gentle understanding, we think she's a perfect fit for her path! We're so excited to see her grow.

Oops! Sylvia's post didn't format correctly. Here she is!

Tomorrow is , so we're celebrating all those who one day or one dollar at a time. Here's Curtis, one of our beloved teachers, supporting a student picking flowers for his friends. How can you be kind today?

Baylor came back and our calendar is once again packed with dedicated volunteers! Huge thanks to the Rho Eta chapter of Delta Sigma Theta for helping to brighten up our classrooms on Jan 20th. "Grateful" is our middle name.

Happy Valentine's Day! We'll be spreading all the love today at Talitha Koum, and we hope you will too.

Welcome back Teacher Tuesday! A round of amazing new teachers have joined our team and we’re excited to introduce them, starting with one of our Pre-K teachers, Sylvia Uwamaliya Stainback.

With a Master’s in Administration and Leadership (SUNY) and a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work, Sylvia most recently was the Managing Director of Rwanda’s East African Christian College’s Early Childhood Center. The students were from families deeply affected by generational trauma resulting from the 100-day genocide of 1994. Sylvia has lived in America much of her adult life with her American husband, an ecological economist now teaching at Baylor, and they have a 14-year-old son. With such patience and passion for children, we're overjoyed to add Sylvia to our TKI family.

How will you spend your Saturday morning? Why not come hang out with Santa at the Waco Downtown Farmers Market? Bring the kiddos, bring the fur babies and come take a pic with Santa.
All proceeds benefit the children and families of Talitha Koum Institute. See you there!

See these smiling faces? That's what happens when you spend your Saturday morning volunteering with Susan Cowley and Talitha Koum staff like the Vogelaar and Foster families did recently.
TK welcomes families, school and church groups, and individuals to volunteer their time and talents. Even young ones can share in the fun!

Check out how YOU can get involved here: https://ow.ly/kWf650P6AG7

Talitha Koum is continuously grateful for the efforts made by the Waco community to contribute to the education of our students. The St. Paul's Episcopal School community rallied together to support creativity and learning by initiating a successful schoolwide drive for art materials and classroom essentials.

Then, Central Presbyterian Church volunteers came with their families and helped sort through the donated art materials along with cleaning blocks (a gift from Region 12 Education Service Center) and helped assemble a couple of new pieces of equipment.

Our volunteers from these groups ranged from children to students, mothers to adult friends, showing that our doors are open to anyone with a bit of time and a load of willingness.

Scroll through to see the kiddos at TKI having fun with the new supplies!

Today's dual post features all of our Teacher Tuesday highlights! Here are five we count on each day to bring stability, comfort, and joy to our children as their marvelous brains are developing by leaps and bounds. Thank you for following this series and celebrating these who give so much!