Township carnival a ‘big, community hug’

Children of America Marlton will host their second annual summer carnival on Friday, Aug. 7, at 5:30 p.m. All funds raised for the day care center’s main event will be donated to the Pryor Family Foundation, a nonprofit that supports families facing sudden adversities, ensuring their children’s education continues uninterrupted.

People who donate at the door will be entered into a raffle to win four tickets to a race at Bridgeport Motorsports Park, a car racing venue located in Swedesboro. The carnival is open to all families and is expected to be a fun time, with games (made by teachers), vendors, activities, desserts, food, music, prizes, a bounce house, a dunk tank and potentially a petting zoo on site. This year’s sponsors are the Pryor Family Foundation and Bridgeport Motorsports Park.

The gist of the carnival is for Children of America Marlton to help raise money for a local charity, with last year’s raising more than $1,400. Cinnaminson resident Leonie Giordano and Cherry Hill resident Brandi Mosko hope to see it have a lasting impact on everyone involved year after year. Giordano has been with Children of America Marlton since its doors opened and Mosko passed her one-year mark in April. As a child, Giordano didn’t know that she had ADHD, so she found a lot of things harder than others. She felt misled, pushed in the corner and labeled as the bad kid, but now when she looks back on the behaviors she was doing in school, she realizes she wasn’t that.

“That’s what made me want to become a teacher because I don’t want to have any kid feel dumb or stupid or misled in my classroom,” she said. “My specialty is to help children with struggling behaviors because I was that kid, and I want every kid to feel heard. My favorite saying I’ve ever heard is, ‘Every behavior is a form of communication.’ Even bringing the community in, it shows them we all work together, even in the classroom.”

Once the kids come in, they have breakfast with Mosko and their other teachers followed by the day’s activities. For Mosko, it’s the smile that she and her colleagues put on the kid’s faces when they arrive in the morning. They come running up and give a big hug, she said. As carnival co-ambassadors, it serves both Giordano and Mosko’s purpose to partner with local charities and bring something meaningful to the community. Even though they are residents of other South Jersey towns, they both feel as though it’s becoming their second home through their work.

“I don’t even live in Marlton, and it’s built up my culture to Marlton, to the people, to the schools, to the communities…,” Giordano said of the carnival. “I feel like I’ve been adopted into Marlton even though I’m all the way from Cinnaminson. It gives a big community hug. Everyone is here to support each other no matter what, and I love that.”

“You always meet new people when you’re there,” Mosko also said of the carnival. “You have the chance to actually mingle and talk to people that you might not normally talk to.”

Above all, both Giordano and Mosko strive to teach their students at Children of America Marlton compassion and how to care for others. With community events like the carnival, the kids get to see that in the hope that it will leave a mark on them. Working with pre-K students is tough, Giordano said, because you build them up, you see their big moments, and you get them ready to move on so it’s always sad when they leave. But they make time to come back and visit their teachers and classrooms, even if they have siblings who attend the center or not.

“It’s great though because you know that they’re going to be amazing little humans that change the world and being able to have that positive impact on them, it works out,” Giordano said. “ … You become a part of their family. The small wins that they win, we celebrate them all with them.”