PCDC & Petsmart bring Christmas to area children

Parent Child Development Corporation, PCDC, based in West Point, delivers educational, social, healthcare and other services to at-risk children and their families in seven Virginia counties. Verlane Mack, PCDC Executive Director, and Kristian Nielsen, Manager of the Mechanicsville PetSmart, are collaborating on the distribution of stuffed animals to children enrolled in Head Start and Early Head Start programs.  Now working together for three years, Ms. Mack and Mr. Nielsen are bringing a bit of Christmas to 288 enrolled children and their siblings aged three to eight years old. The in-person aspects of the Head Start and Early Head Start programs have been severely curtailed by Covid-19 restrictions and both PCDC and PetSmart want to make sure that “their kids” have a bit of Christmas this year.  Llamas, unicorns, dogs, dragons and other critters will be distributed at a drive-through event at Acquinton [VM1] Elementary School, Head Start Program, King William County, PCDC’s 18^th Street Smart Start facility in West Point and at Kiddie Korner Daycare in King and Queen County. Says Ms. Mack, “There will be a couple of other goodies in the bags as well as the stuffed animals. Kris’s PetSmart is an amazing partner. We thank them for donating the stuffed animals and hope they will bring some holiday cheer to the children in our programs and their families.” For more information, or to make a donation to help the kids, go to www.pcdcva.org and check out www.petsmart.com as well.

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