Children’s Beach House launches Milton school programs

Rich Garrett said in 21 years as executive director of the Children’s Beach House, he has learned that families and communities know what is best, and that CBH is there to encourage their interests and talents.

CBH is hoping to do just that with a new afterschool program at Milton Elementary and H.O. Brittingham Elementary.

“We work with kids with communicative disabilities: speech, language, hearing, who are coming from under-resourced families,” Garrett said.

Garrett said they identified Milton as an underserved community, then partnered with the Cape Henlopen School District to provide services beyond what the district offers.

He said the programs will serve 140 kids in each school.

“The kids will get academic support from teachers for the first hour,” he said. “The rest of the time [about two hours] will be devoted to arts and crafts, drama, sports and more. Underlying all of it is the design of helping kids communicate better, team building, cooperative play, conflict resolution and problem solving.”

Garret said those activities will be taught by CBH AmeriCorps volunteers and paid teachers they will hire. He said the program will have a 1-to-5 teacher-to-student ratio.

The programs are scheduled to launch in October.

Garrett said there is a critical need now, because the district recently lost a federal grant that had funded some of those services.

The new afterschool programs have their roots in the pandemic. Garrett said the CBH board of directors realized that the people who depend on them would be depending on them even more.

He said they found that North Wilmington and Milton had the largest clusters of underserved families.

“We embedded in their afterschool programs in Milton, learned the needs of the community, and how we could respond and support that,” Garrett said. 

He said the biggest needs were more afterschool and free or subsidized programs.

CBH has also partnered with the Cape district to provide up to $15,000 to recent graduates for continuing education if they work with CBH in an AmeriCorps service year.

“Maybe they haven’t figured out what their next step is going to be. Maybe they picked the wrong college or major. This program allows them to work a gap year and earn some money,” Garrett said.

CBH is a statewide organization, but its biggest asset is its large headquarters, which some refer to as “the castle,” on Lewes Beach. 

The building hosts children for overnight visits and day programs. The location, right up against the dunes, allows CBH kids to have time at the beach and even learn sailing from the next-door neighbors at the Lewes Yacht Club.  

CBH has been revamping how its raises money to support its $4.5 million annual budget.

“We have a new advancement team that’s only been here for 90 days, but they’re already turning over big mountains,” Garrett said.

He said the organization will hold its winter gala Saturday, Feb. 8, at Lighthouse Cove in Dewey Beach, with a goal of raising $200,000.

CBH also launched a for-profit catering business in 2021 to monetize its large, commercial kitchen.

“For overnight kids, breakfast, lunch and dinner for 40 and then 34 additional lunches. The kitchen can do 500 without blinking an eye. So there was a lot of capacity there that we were not using,” Garrett said.

Paula Baker, a professional chef who came from Matt Haley’s organization, took over the operation earlier this year.

The day the Cape Gazette visited CBH, Baker was preparing for three weekend events: two weddings and an off-site cocktail party.

She said the business does more than raise money to support CBH. She said it helps kids make healthy, affordable choices and teaches them about her job.

“You don’t have to go to culinary school to be really successful in this business. So, for a kid who might not be able to come up with the tuition, they can gain the skills and work their way up,” Baker said.

Garrett said it is all part of fulfilling the CBH mission to improve the lives of children and families by helping them identify their own strengths and talents.

“It’s not for me to say if you should be a doctor or a mechanic. It’s for me to ask what turns you on, makes you happy, engages your mind and makes you think about the world,” Garrett said.