As all of us around the world confront this difficult new period, we recognize the importance—and the challenge—of staying relaxed and entertained, especially for kids at home who are missing the stimulation of the classroom. From the beginning, Audible has served as an antidote to loneliness and even isolation, as a way to hear words that inspire and transport and for many – words that teach and entertain in deeply intimate ways.

With all of us experiencing varying degrees of social distancing and school closures, we have created something that we hope makes our customers’ lives a little easier. At stories.audible.com, you will find hundreds of our titles available completely free. The collection has been handpicked by our editors and is a mix of stories to entertain, engage, and inform young people, ages 0–18.

These stories offer a screen-free option that we hope may help break up the day for families with students home from school.

There are selections for our listeners in English, Spanish, German, French, Japanese and Italian.

To access the free titles, just visit stories.audible.com from any web browser.

The experience is completely free – no log-ins, credit cards, or passwords required. Just click, stream and listen.

We wish you and your loved ones good health, and we hope that listening to a good story will offer some respite during these unsettling times.

All of us at Audible

Good Afternoon! I am writing you to invite you to consider encouraging the families in the West Chester Area School District to consider some virtual wellness programs designed with families in mind. Some of our very popular instructors and staff have uploaded videos to encourage movement and time together with family to our website, and some of them are WCASD moms. You do not need to be a member to do any of the virtual adventures online. It is free and open to the community. They are open to anyone, and are family friendly as we are working hard to stay connected during this unprecedented crisis. Many parents are trying to juggle being at home, needing to work, and managing small children at the same time. I'm one of those parents...luckily my child is in high school, and has been immersed in learning all week. We recognize it may be harder for parents with elementary students, many of whom may be watching a lot of television or having excessive screen time. Moving is so important, and we are working to make that easier for families. I've attached a short video of Laura doing family friendly belly dancing class, which she has done for several schools during Ancient Civilization Day. I know the students at East Goshen and Starkweather have enjoyed this tremendously.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5HJf5mDfc_g&list=PL-oZZmdrjhDw7Hh-QVLtuVCjl6x83vtHO&index=2&t=2s

We are looking forward to greeting the children from the district and their families once this Coronavirus-19 stay at home order is lifted. I'm sure you are ready to have our kids back, soon too. Until then, we are hoping to stay connected, and keep families moving, in our virtual community. While we've reached out to our members, we wanted to invite those in our community who are not members to join us online as well.

Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions. Our website to access exercise programs and family programming is www.ymcagbw.org.

Stay healthy and safe. My freshman at Rustin, Reese, misses being at school so much. I'm guessing this is making a snow day look like a walk in the park.

Sincerely,

Terri Edgar

Senior Executive Director

YMCA OF GREATER BRANDYWINE

West Chester YMCA

605 Airport Road

West Chester, PA 19380

P 610-431-YMCA (9622) ext. 2203

F 610-692-8712

E tedgar@ymcagbw.org

W http://www.ymcagbw.org