Children of the Valley expands, launches campaign
Ava Ronning, Skagit Valley Herald, March 14, 2026 – View article on GoSkagit.com
Children of the Valley, a nonprofit serving Skagit County children in need, celebrated its expansion and a new campaign Thursday.
The referral-based organization does after-school enrichment programs for students who need extra support.
Students get academic assistance, gain social-emotional learning skills and participate in enrichment activities, while their families get support.
Children of the Valley serves about 200 elementary school students at four sites, and about 75 middle school students through an after-school bike club that was launched in partnership with the Cascade Bicycle Club.
The bike club is intended to teach students how to safely ride bikes, with long-term goals of encouraging the use of bikes and public transportation.
The organization recently moved its Burlington-Edison School District services from Christ the King Church to West View Early Learning and Community Center.
The move and the organization’s Dream Big Campaign gives the Burlington-Edison program the opportunity to expand to five classrooms, which is up from two when it started at the church.
Three donors had West View classrooms named after them at Thursday’s event.
The fourth- and fifth-grade classroom was named in honor of Marathon Petroleum, the kindergarten and first-grade classroom was named after Ron and Sue Anderson, and the Reading Corner was named in honor of the Burlington Rotary Club.
Many community members who donated $28 a month over three years had classroom chairs named in their honor.
Dream Big campaign manager Jennifer Pitner spoke about the campaign.
She described the campaign as a capacity-building expansion campaign, as there is a high need for the organization’s services throughout the county.
One school principal in Sedro-Woolley said that for every student that gets into the program, five more are on the wait-list.
Campaign goals include serving more students in each school district, expanding student transportation and hiring staff.
By purchasing several new vans, more students will be able to participate in the program and go on field trips.
Conway students are currently being served at the organization’s Mount Vernon location. With the campaign, Children of the Valley is aiming to establish a permanent location in Conway in the next three years.
Parts of the campaign include looking at ways to expand sites and fund administration positions to support operations and the quality of the after-school program.
The other piece of the campaign is an endowment. There is an endowment fund with the Skagit Community Foundation with a goal to raise $3 million.
The endowment will provide a stable, sustainable source of funding that can helps the organization weather economic changes, plan confidently for the future and maintain programming.
Children of the Valley is fully community-funded and it is free for children to participate.
More information about Children of the Valley and the Dream Big Campaign is available at childrenofthevalley.org.