Thank you parents!  Your outpouring of support for our teachers has been phenomenal! This has been a challenging time for all of us and it has been uplifting to see everyone come together to show how much we care about our teachers and leadership team. The teachers are overwhelmed by your support. This campaign is now closed.

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Dear Parents,

In light of COVID-19, the County of San Mateo issued a shelter-in-place order in mid-March. As a result, Bright Horizons Redwood City made the decision to suspend operations and while this makes it difficult for parents, we believe it was the right decision and in the best interests of everyone.

As you may know already, the teachers at our center were only being paid by Bright Horizons for the first two weeks of the shutdown, and their pay ended on April 3rd. They are receiving certain benefits such as health and dental care until June. The only way that teachers could continue to work and get paid would be to staff one of the Bright Horizons “Hub” centers in SF or to enroll in back-up care/in-home care, but this was not a feasible option for many of them; as a result, none of the teachers at our center will continue to receive pay from BH during the shutdown. Counselors are helping the teachers transition to unemployment during this time. While unemployment and Covid-19 stimulus payments may help them recoup some of their lost wages, many teachers remain worried.

 As parents, we care deeply about the teachers at our center. They have been such a huge part of our support system. And, we would like to do whatever we can to help stabilize their income during this time so that they are well-positioned to remain teachers in our center and do not feel they need to pursue other employment options. So we are inviting parents to make a one-time contribution via GoFundMe to help offset the loss of income for our teachers during this difficult time. We understand that not all parents are in a position to give at this time – many of us are also struggling as the Covid-19 crisis stretches on, so please do not feel at all obligated to contribute. 

We are in communication with the Bright Horizons Redwood City administrative team and they have indicated their support for us to move forward with this campaign. We will coordinate directly with the administrative team to ensure that we are distributing the contributions to all of the  staff at Bright Horizons Redwood City. Each staff member will receive an equal distribution of the collected funds. A spreadsheet will be provided to all parents at the center showing the dollar amount collected and the dollar amounts distributed to each teacher. All contributions will be given on behalf of all parents and students, not individuals, so no one should feel left out if they can't contribute. When you donate, we strongly encourage you to enter your name as “Anonymous” when contributing here on the GoFundMe site so that we can maintain a sense of solidarity and unity among all of us.

Please make your donations by Friday, April 17th so we can distribute funds to the staff by the end of the month. 

Sincerely,

Your BH RWC Room Parents