Oops! Brianna’s baby’s head popped off! Not the head of a real baby. No! No! No ! It’s Brianna’s babysitter’s training doll’s head! Phew. That’s a relief, which is kind of the whole point of the Red Cross Babysitter’s Training Class: to teach young people how to care for children (including how to hold them) and to be outstanding babysitters.
Recently, around 10 kids from Willmar, a small town west of the Twin Cities metro, took a Red Cross babysitter’s training class that a generous donor helped fund (thank you!) making the class nearly free ($10). Liz Sheehy, the Red Cross instructor teaching the class, says that the grant funding is terrific because “it gives kids who normally couldn’t afford the class to chance to take the class.”
The Red Cross worked with Tammy Rudningen at Willmar Community Education & Recreation to arrange the classes. Rudningen, who also teaches at Willmar Public Schools, says that more than “50 percent of her students qualify for reduced fee or free lunches. That’s reflective of the economy of our community.” And costing $85 normally, $10 she says, is “a screamin’ deal.”
As usual, the Red Cross is over the moon to have had a hand in making important emergency training available for young people, and especially future babysitters of Willmar. We hope you are, too. Click here to learn more about Red Cross health and safety classes in your area.
Story and photos by Lynette Nyman/American Red Cross
American Red Cross 