GREDC

Support

Donate

We’re providing exceptional Reggio-inspired early education in Grand Rapids. You can help!

Your support goes directly toward classroom supplies and materials for the latest emergent curriculum studies. In addition to individual fundraising campaigns for specific items, we accept general donations to help provide amazing opportunities for our students to research, explore, and learn. Your support makes a direct impact in the lives of our students and their families!

As a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, donations to GREDC can provide tax benefits to you, while making a lasting impact in the lives of our students.

More ways to give

Recurring Donation

Maximize your impact by setting up a monthly donation!

GIVE NOW

Check

Mail checks payable to

Grand Rapids Early Discovery Center
515 Jefferson Ave SE
Grand Rapids, MI 49503

Tuition Assistance

Help those in our community who have a hard time paying tuition due to difficult life events.

HELP NOW

Employer Matching Fund

Talk to your employer to see if they provide a donation matching program. Matched donations multiply your impact and allow companies to support our Grand Rapids community!

Gifts from your IRA

Individuals ages 70½ and older can make a Qualified Charitable Distribution and receive significant tax benefits in return.

Merchandise

Children are central to everything we do at the GREDC! We love showing off their creative and explorative skills. We’ve set up a storefront on Bonfire for family and friends to pick up the latest designs from our children. You’ll also find all the GREDC merch and swag.

All proceeds go directly to classroom supplies for the children’s next creative project!

Go Change the World tee
Passero Piazza tee
Nested Hearts tee
Rainbow tee
Pikachu tee
Shop at Bonfire

Study Books

The Reggio Emilia Approach uses emergent curriculum to create projects that interests the students. Sometimes those projects are so thorough we just have to record them in a book.

Over in the Ocean 21-22
Photo book from the ocean study by Avventura 2022.

Click to buy on Lulu.
Our Image of Childhood 21-22
Observations from each classroom in GREDC show the breadth and depth of projects undertaken by the children.

Click to buy on Lulu.

Lauren Huyck

Mentor Teacher

B.S in psychology and writing
A.A. in early childhood education
Teaching since 2010

My name is Lauren Huyck and I am the afternoon lead for the Scoperta classroom. I started as a teaching assistant when the center was still part of Aquinas in 2010. When we became the GREDC in 2012, I stayed on. In 2014, I was excited to accept the role of lead teacher.

I have a Bachelors in psychology and writing, and an associates in early childhood education. I am currently working on getting a Masters in psychology with a concentration in child development.

I love seeing the children grow and learn. There are so many developmental milestones that I get to see and experience. I fell in love with the Reggio approach and work to incorporate it in all my experiences with children. It has definitely taught me to treat children as citizens of the world.

I honestly could go on about how much I love the work I do and how passionate I feel about every child having quality care but that would take eons. So I will end with these two quotes:

“To take children seriously is to value them for who they are right now rather than adults-in-the-making.”

Alfie Kohn

If you trust play, you will not have to control your child’s development as much. Play will raise the child in ways you can never imagine.

Vince Gowmon