Waco Rotary Provides $4,500 DAP Grant to Talitha Koum Institute
The Waco Rotary Club provided a $4,500 DAP grant for music education supplies to the Talitha Koum Institute to help its therapeutic mental health programs for young children. Pictured are Leonard Englander, Jim Newkham (chairman), Talitha Koum executive director Jan Wengler, Howard Gruetzner, James Karney, Evan Klaras, K. Paul Holt (representing the Waco Rotary Board). Not pictured Ken Krause.
Talitha Koum provides children, ages eight weeks to six years, with activities proven to increase the child's ability to learn and grow. The children, all of who are ground up in urban multigenerational poverty, will be able to use music to engage their brains in order to stimulate neural pathways associated with such higher forms of intelligence as abstract thinking, empathy and mathematics. Specific activities will enhance both their early listening, reading and communication skills, all of which are critical skills needed for future learning.
"Music is perfectly designed for training children's listening skills. Good listening skills and school achievement go hand in hand," said Jan Wengler, executive director of the Talitha Koum Institute.