WESTFIELD – The Westfield Memorial Library, located at 550 East Broad Street, continues to offer educational programs throughout the end of September and the beginning of October.
Carol Pedro MA, LPC, ACS, Executive Director of Youth & Family Counseling Service (YFCS) in Westfield, will present “Supporting Strong and Healthy Families” on Tuesday, September 30 from 6 to 7 p.m. She will be discussing how to keep families healthy and safe regarding their mental health.
Participants will learn to navigate the health care system and what parents and caregivers can do to keep their children safe and emotionally healthy. Concerned and loving parents may not have all the answers, Ms. Pedro wrote in her program description, so she encourages parents to bring their questions to this meeting.
Ms. Pedro joined YFCS in 2007 and assumed the role of Executive Director in 2011. She has developed and implemented Parent, Children and Family Programs for East Orange General Hospital, High Focus Centers, and other Private Community Mental Health Programs. Ms. Pedro has been treating adolescents and adults through individual, group and couples counseling for over 20 years. In addition, she has been contributing to The Westfield Leader column “In Session” for ten years.
On that same evening between 7 and 8:30 p.m., Jodi Bloom, a Certified College Funding Specialist, will present “Making College Affordable” on a Zoom presentation. Also the founder of Cornerstone College Solutions, Ms. Bloom will educate parents and students about funding for college.
She will cover a variety of options, including 529 plans, FAFSA, Financial Aid, Merit Aid, and strategies to help parents save for their child’s future education and position their child for discounts on college tuition. Plus, she will talk about the changes in the world of college funding.
“Starting a college savings program now, will pay off in the long run,” she said. “With our college savings plan, you can rest easy knowing that you are taking a proactive approach to securing your child’s future.” Interested people must register on the library’s website to receive the Zoom link.
On Wednesday, October 1 and the first Wednesday of the month thereafter at 6:30 to 8:00 p.m., Cheryl Schmid, AFMC, will facilitate an informal conversation about a variety of topics including: gut health, food sensitivities, autoimmune disease, osteoporosis, vitamins, making sense of lab-work, IBS and other health challenges.
Ms. Schmid, founder of The Well Chat, is an AFMC Certified Functional Medicine Practitioner and licensed Speech Language Pathologist. She believes that by working on the body as a whole, specifically through the Functional Medicine lens, people can make significant progress beyond what they have experienced thus far.
Ms. Schmid specializes in gut health which directly impacts all forms of dis-ease including autoimmunity, food sensitivities, IBS, heartburn, SIBO, candida, H-pylori, osteoporosis, nutrient deficiency, headache, constipation and other conditions.
An event for Junior Entrepreneurs will be held on Saturday, October 4 between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. Kids ages 7 to 12 are welcome to apply for the Westfield Memorial Library’s first ever Junior Entrepreneur Expo.
Anyone who is interested will need to fill out the application which is on the library’s website, and provide information about what they want to sell and the cost of their items. Once accepted, a $5 fee will be collected to secure the table.
All participants will receive a networking passport that they can use to collect information about the other vendors and get to know the other sellers at the event. Prizes for networking with other program participants will be provided by the library. The last 20 minutes of the selling period (11:10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.) can be utilized for trading items with other sellers at the event.
Each child who applies and is approved by library staff will receive space at a table to set up goods to sell. Examples of items that can be sold include: bookmarks, keychains, friendship bracelets, Pokémon or sports cards, Origami, original artwork, magnets, stickers, pins, and small, handmade items priced under $10.
Items that cannot be sold or traded at the event include: food or drinks of any kind, cosmetics, bath products, slime, digital goods (digital files, services, etc.) or anything priced over $10.
Setup for sellers begins at 10 a.m., and selling begins at 10:30 am. Selling will end at 11:30 and participants have until 12:00 noon to break down their displays. All junior entrepreneurs must be accompanied by a guardian for the duration of the event.
Visit the library’s website at https:/ /wmlnj.org/ to register for programs, sign up for a library card, or learn more about the library’s resources. Library hours are Monday – Thursday 9:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.; and Sunday 1 to 5 p.m.
