Month: April 2020

Virtual volunteer opportunities: Help the Library of Congress and others make historical documents more accessible

~ ccllauras ~ Leave a comment

You can transcribe or otherwise work with historical documents to help make them more searchable and accessible to researchers and others!

Interested in volunteering your time? Below are a few crowdsourcing projects to explore. Each project site has its own instructions for getting started, as well as project-specific guidelines/support/help to aid you in your work:

Kids’ Update: Arts and Crafts

~ clancygirl1 ~ Leave a comment

Looking for something to do? Get out your art supplies and get ready for some creative fun! Arts and Crafts for Kids has lots of great ideas to get your creative juices flowing! Not enough ideas there? Then, check out 500 Fun, Artful Activities for Kids. You’re sure to find something to make!

Click here to read about Sophie; she’s no ordinary artist! Sophie’s Masterpiece.

The Youth Services Staff at the Chester County Library and Hankin Branch are presenting Virtual Storytimes beginning April 27th. They will be for three different ages groups — 0 to 2 Year Olds, 3 & 4 Year Olds, and 5 & 6 Year Olds. Registration is required via the Events Calendar at https://chescolibraries.org/. Virtual Storytimes are not registered as multi-week sessions; you will need to register for each storytime individually.

Kids’ Update: Virtual Kindermusik Program!

~ svirginiaroyf ~ Leave a comment

Friday April 17 at 10:00am – – Join us online for a full-filled Kindermusik program presented by teachers from Valotta Music Studios in Chester Springs. Kindermusik is an interactive program designed to stimulate physical, cognitive and musical growth in children up to age 5. So get up, start dancing and have a great time with your favorite little one!

Registration is required for each family. Please click here to register. Class size is limited. Each family will receive an email the morning of the class with the link to the program.

Mask-Up Chester County Challenge

~ cmviola ~ Leave a comment

The Center for Disease Control and Pennsylvania Department of Health have advised residents to wear masks when performing essential tasks in public to help slow the spread of COVID-19. In the interest of saving surgical masks and N95 respirators for health care workers and first responders, members of the public are encouraged to wear homemade cloth or fabric masks. In support of this health promoting effort, State Senator Andy Dinniman has launched a homemade mask challenge.

This online challenge invites all PA residents to submit photos of their homemade masks. At the end of the week, Senator Dinniman’s office will pick out the most creative masks, and the masks which best fit the theme of “My Mask Protects You, Your Mask Protects Me.” Then, they will open it up to a community vote. Winners from both categories will receive a senatorial citation!

Voting will begin today, so submit your photos between now and Friday to become part of the fun. For more information on the challenge and to submit photos, visit www.facebook.com/SenatorAndyDinniman.

For guidance on how you can make your masks at home, you can find instruction for both no-sew and sewn masks at the Center for Disease Control website at: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/diy-cloth-face-coverings.html. Additional guidance and resources are available from the PA Department of Health website at https://www.health.pa.gov/topics/disease/coronavirus/Pages/Stop-the-Spread.aspx. You also might want to check out this New York Times article for a step-by-step tutorial: https://www.nytimes.com/article/how-to-make-face-mask-coronavirus.html.

Good luck with your mask-making, and remember, the best way to prevent the spread of COVID-19 is to stay at home. Be safe and well!

Single Mothers Online Conference

~ lshupp13 ~ Leave a comment

The 8th Annual Single Mothers’ Conference is a 2 day free event brought to you by the Chester County Community Collaborative and will be held online this year on Saturday, April 18 and Saturday, April 25. The schedule for Day 1 is above.

The conference gathers resources from vendors in the area, dedicated to various aspects of the lives of single mothers including health, family, childcare, legal aid, finance, resume building, work wardrobe, nutrition, and so much more. There will be a virtual exhibit hall in addition to the online workshops.

To join in, visit the Single Mothers Conference Facebook page for a live stream throughout the day or email singlemotherscc@gmail.com for more information.

Free Personal Finance Workshops

~ Sam Bardarik ~ Leave a comment

In partnership with the United Way Financial Stability Center, Open Hearth, Inc. is making a number of FREE Personal Financial Workshop Offerings available to consumers through ZOOM during the COVID-19 pandemic:

  • Home Buying Basics
  • Good Credit – How to Get It!
  • Finances for a Lifetime
  • Car Buying: Put Yourself in the Driver’s Seat
  • Financing Your First Home
  • Save Like a Millionaire!
  • Paying for College/Vocational Training

Click here for more information and to register.

Kids’ Update: Add a Little Music to Your Day!

~ clancygirl1 ~ Leave a comment

Whether you’re bored or blue, music can be a great pick-me-up! Ask your parents about songs they liked when they were kids. To find to lyrics to songs you or they half remember, go to Songs for Scouts. If you click on “song” at the top of the page, someone will sing it for you. Check out our favorite, Mama Mosquito! At jBrary, you can learn lots of new songs from youtube videos.

At Classics for Kids, you can learn about Composers and Instruments. Classics for Kids also lets you hear music by the great composers and compose your own! Go to Music Notes: A Guide to Music for Kids to learn about music theory, music history, musical styles, instruments, and more.

Here’s a story about one style of music that you’ll enjoy — Rent Party Jazz!

The Youth Services Staff at the Chester County Library and Hankin Branch are presenting Virtual Storytimes beginning April 27th. They will be for three different ages groups — 0 to 2 Year Olds, 3 & 4 Year Olds, and 5 & 6 Year Olds. Registration is required via the Events Calendar at https://chescolibraries.org/. Virtual Storytimes are not registered as multi-week sessions; you will need to register for each storytime individually.

Virtual Program: The Death of Privacy

~ Jenna P ~ Leave a comment

Lawrence Husick, a technology attorney and terrorism expert, will discuss modern privacy issues from multiple perspectives. We are surrounded by surveillance cameras, smart phones, facial recognition systems, and other technologies that seem to know more about us than we know about ourselves. What should we think about the erosion of our privacy? Lawrence will discuss legal, social, technological and economic viewpoints. Is it possible to live privately, “off the grid,” in modern American society?

Join us for a Zoom lecture on April 21 at 6:30 p.m. Please register here. 

All registrants will receive an email with the Zoom connection information on Tuesday morning, April 21.