By Fr. Dave Patterson

The number of children who enter school inadequately prepared to meet its academic demands is astounding. When a language barrier is added to the picture, the need to help these children prepare for school is urgent.

For this reason St. Philip’s Cathedral, the Cathedral of Christ the King and Covenant United Presbyterian Church have joined together in an ecumenical effort to sponsor Peachtree International Pre-School (PIPS).

PIPS received its original inspiration from the archdiocesan program “Operation Eye-Opener” with its emphasis on relieving the cause of poverty. Members of the neighboring churches formed PIPS as a non-profit organization offering a program of language enrichment and child development for three-and-four-year-olds regardless of race, color or creed. The school’s special emphasis is correction of the education problems of children of low income families.

PIPS began its operation the first week in February. Its location is at Covenant United Presbyterian Church, 2461 Peachtree Rd., N.E., Atlanta. Its schedule is from 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon; Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays.

Although PIPS is only a four-month pilot program is seeking to test the feasibility of a full pre-school experience for low-income children, results have been encouraging. Due to the overwhelming demand for this type of service and the structure of the pilot program, enrollment was limited to 22 children. Under the coordination of Mrs. Libby Dolvin, who specialized in early childhood development, children from Chile, Columbia, Peru, Venezuela, Japan, Germany as well as native North Americans are prepared for school. Along with her background experience in Operation Headstart, Mrs. Dolvin uses the Peabody Language Development Kit and other teaching devices such as a remote-controlled talking doll, given by the Bell Telephone Co. to encourage the children in their language skills. The response of volunteer workers from each of the churches has also been overwhelming and gratifying.

PIPS fiscal budget comes from the monetary contributions of participating churches, as well as private sources. Avenues are presently being explored for use of federal funds as well.

An exciting spirit of ecumenical cooperation exits among the members of the board of directors which includes: Sue Colussy, Lyda Blakemore and Grace Redwine from Covenant Presbyterian Church; Bryon Wood, Tom Gross and Harriet Smith from St. Philip’s Cathedral and Pennie Edmonds, St. Nohemi Rueda and Fr. Dave Patterson from the Cathedral of Christ the King.

It is hoped that with a deepening awareness of the educational problems of low-income families in our community, PIPS will become a full pre-school program. An estimation of the number of children who would be interested in enrolling in PIPS this fall is being gathered.