Bee Me Kids team
“Programs like Bee Me Kidz don’t wait for families to fall apart before offering support — they strengthen families early, with dignity and without judgment. Families like mine have benefited not only from resources, but from feeling connected, cared for, and less alone.”
Those are the words of parent Kristen Prouse at a recent event supporting Bee Me Kidz, a New Brunswick non-profit delivering evidence-based social and emotional learning to children and their families.
“Social-emotional learning is truly the foundation of everything,” says Claire Ashton, executive director of Bee Me Kidz. “We are helping children and their families understand healthy relationships, empathy, and communication while they build self-awareness, resilience, and positive peer relationships.”
Launched in 2014 with only 24 students at a single school, Bee Me Kidz now serves more than 3,500 children and over 650 parents in Fredericton, Saint John, Sussex and Charlotte County at nine elementary schools and five program centres.
In Fredericton, Bee Me Kidz operates out of Cuffman Street Elementary, where nearly 50 per cent of the student population experiences poverty, compared to about 18 per cent across Fredericton. The Community Foundation recently provided $7,450 in support of Bee Me Kidz at Cuffman. The funding comes in the form of $4,700 from the MacPherson Family Fund, a donor-advised fund focused on literacy and education, and a $2,750 Community Grant.
Cuffman principal David Burrell, whose own kids participate in Bee Me Kidz, says the program and its staff have had a positive impact.
"We have seen participants grow in confidence, develop stronger social skills, and demonstrate greater empathy and respect for others,” he says. “It has been especially rewarding to observe students taking what they learn through Bee Me Kidz and applying it in the classroom, on the playground, and throughout the school community.”
