Upcoming Community Events & Programs

The Lower Merion Township Scholarship Fund will be holding a "Feed the Fund" Fundraiser on Tuesday, April 18 at Shake Shack in Suburban Square, which is located at 40 Coulter Avenue in Ardmore!

Take a mid-week break from meal planning and schedule lunch or dinner out on Tuesday, April 18 and 25% of sales will be donated to the Lower Merion Township Scholarship Fund. Please remember to use code DONATE2023 when checking out either in store, in the app or online.

The Lower Merion Township Scholarship Fund has been awarding need-based scholarships to Lower Merion High School & Harriton High School graduates since 1964. To learn more about the Fund or to donate, click here.

Wishing you could meet up with people who understand the challenges of having kids with disabilities and learning differences? Need a break from the grind to have some fun? We’ve got all that in one evening on April 25!

What: CSE Game Night & Social
When: Tuesday, April 25 from 7:00-8:30 p.m.
Where: GET Cafe (located at 246 Haverford Road in Narberth)

As our final event of the year, the Committee for Special Education invites you to an adults-only Game Night & Social at GET Cafe. Connect with others who get what you might be going through. Plus play a round of Scrabble, Trivial Pursuit and other favorites for a chance to win a prize! Coffee, tea and snacks served; no prior game experience necessary.

For questions, please email cse.lmsd@gmail.com.

The Philadelphia Boys & Girls Chorale are holding open auditions on Thursday, April 13 from 3:45-5:00 p.m. No experience necessary!

For more information about the Boys Choir and audition information, click here.

For more information about the Girls Choir and audition information, click here.

Registration for the Narberth Athletic Association (NAA) baseball programs is now open! There are several registration options to choose from:

Narberth Recreational Baseball

• Quickball - for children ages 5 & 6
• Rooke Plus - for children ages 7-10
  • Reduced registration fee if you coach!
  • Twins pay just one registration fee!

Narberth American Legion

• PREP Legion – for ages 13 & 14
• Junior Legion – for age 15 only
• Senior Legion – for ages 16-18

Summer Baseball Camps

• Top Gunn Baseball @ Narberth
• Pete Filson @ Narberth

Financial support is available. Questions? Please contact NarberthAA@gmail.com.

The 15^th Annual Dr. Joseph W. Foote Memorial Youth Football Clinic is set to take place on Sunday, May 21 from 10:00 a.m. to noon on Lower Merion High School’s Arnold Field. Come on out to learn some football fundamentals and have some fun!

This program is open to children in grades 2-8. The cost is $15 and all proceeds benefit the Lower Merion Township Scholarship Fund. To register, visit www.narberthaa.com. Financial assistance is available.

Questions? Contact Melissa O’Connor at narberthaa@gmail.com.

The Lower Merion High School baseball team will be hosting three Friday Fun on the Field Spring Clinics for children ages 7-12 in the coming weeks!

The cost is $40 per clinic or $100 for all three. Varsity coaches and players will run the clinics. Financial aid is available if needed. Questions? Contact Coach Quinn at quinnc@lmsd.org. To register, either email Coach Quinn or scan the QR code in the image above.

The clinics will be held on April 21, April 28 and May 5 from 6:00-8:00 p.m. on the baseball field at South Ardmore Park.

The Lower Merion High School girls’ basketball team will host the 2023 Future Ace Academy Spring Clinics for students in grades four through eight. The focus of this developmental clinic is to equip our future Aces with the skills and confidence to play in a Lower Merion uniform.

The clinics will all be held in the Bryant Gymnasium at Lower Merion High School on Thursdays of the following dates:

• March 23 from 7:00-9:00 p.m.
• March 30 from 6:30-8:30 p.m.
• April 13 from 6:30-8:30 p.m.
• April 20 from 7:00-9:00 p.m.
• April 27 from 6:30-8:30 p.m.
• May 3 from 6:30-8:30 p.m.

Each session, players will participate in mental skills training each night led by Positive Coaching & Leadership Group’s Colleen Finegan and speed/agility training under the direction of Fitrition United’s Phil Gagliardi.

The clinic is open to players in grades four through eight. Cost is $175. Payment can be made by cash, check or Venmo to @Corinna-Bowser or PayPal to lmhsbasketball@gmail.com.=

Questions? Contact Coach Erin Laney at laneye@lmsd.org. Financial aid is available.

Click here to register or scan the QR code in the flyer above.

Registration for the Lower Merion Youth Girls Lacrosse League’s spring season and instructional clinics is now open!

Instructional Clinics Information

• For grades K-6
• Harriton High School Turf Field (located at 600 N. Ithan Avenue in Rosemont)
• Sundays: 4/16, 4/23, 4/30, 5/7, 5,14 & 5, 21)
• Grades K-2 will run from 10:00-11:00 a.m.
• Grades 3-6 will run from 11:15 a.m. – 12:45 p.m.
• Beginners welcome!

Travel Teams Information

• For grades 3-4, 5-6 and 7-8
• Practices will be held on Mondays & Wednesdays (3/27, 3/29, 4/10, 4/12, 4/17, 4/19, 4/24, 4/26, 5/1, 5/3, 5/8, 5/10, 5/15, 5/17)
• Saturday games scheduled between 9:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. (4/1, 4/15, 4/22, 4/29, 5/6, 5/13, 5/20)
• Great opportunity for players who want to take their game to the next level!
• Great supplement to middle school season or prep for club!

For more information and to register, click here, or scan the QR code above!

General questions? Need financial assistance? Email LMYGLax@gmail.com.

Lower Merion High School's girls' lacrosse program will be hosting a Chipotle Fundraiser on Wednesday, April 12 from 4:00-8:00 p.m. at the Chipotle located at 133 W. Lancaster Avenue in Ardmore! 33% of event sales will be donated to the Aces' lacrosse program.

Order online for pickup using code JLXQX3Q or show the flyer (pictured above) to make sure your purchase helps the team!

The Cancer Support Community of Greater Philadelphia (CSCGP) is holding a Teen Essay Contest. Are you a cancer survivor? Have you helped a family member or friend deal with cancer? Have you lost someone to cancer?

If you answered 'yes' to any of those questions and you are in grades 6-12, you are eligible to submit an entry to this contest. The CSCGP is looking for honest, detailed, personal essays who demonstrate an ability to more readers through sharing their experience.

First, second, third and an honorable mention can win $400, $200, $100 and $50, respectively. Questions? Contact Christina@cancersupportphiladelphia.org.

Digital application and essays must be submitted on the CSCGP website by April 3, 2023.

Lower Merion School District Full-Day Kindergarten Survey

The Lower Merion School District is exploring the implementation of universal full-day kindergarten. As part of this exploration, the District Administration is conducting internal reviews of facilities, staffing needs and other resources. The District has also contracted with the Montgomery County Planning Commission for enrollment projection studies.

To further the exploration, community feedback is vital. To that end, the District is issuing a survey developed with collaboration from the kindergarten advisory committee to gage projected enrollment, parent/guardian interest and community support of full-day kindergarten.

All residents of Lower Merion Township and Narberth Borough are encouraged to participate in the study and to share it with their neighbors to help capture a maximum number of respondents from our tax-paying community. This includes:

• Parents/guardians with children younger than kindergarten age
• Parents/guardians with pre-school and school-aged children
• Parents/guardians of school-aged children
• Parents/guardians of children older than grade 12
• Community members with no children

Please click here to complete the survey online. Paper versions of the survey are available at the District Administration Building at 301 E. Montgomery Avenue in Ardmore.

If you have questions about the survey or how to access it, please email: Dr. Alexis McGloin, Assistant Superintendent, at mcgloia@lmsd.org.

CLICK HERE TO COMPLETE THE LMSD FULL-DAY KINDERGARTEN SURVEY

Residents of Lower Merion and Narberth wishing to make donations to support the Lower Merion School District may choose to donate to the following Community Partners:

The Education Foundation of Lower Merion (including the Sean Hughes Memorial Fund)

The Lower Merion Township Scholarship Fund

A Better Chance Lower Merion

Individual Home and School Associations

School buses are about to return to the roads for the start of another school year. Please keep our students safe and abide by Pennsylvania's School Bus Stopping Law.

• When you meet or overtake a stopped school bus with red signal lights flashing and stop arm extended, you MUST STOP.
• When you approach an intersection where a school bus is stopped with red signal lights flashing and stop arm extended, you MUST STOP.
• You MUST STOP at least ten (10) feet away from the school bus.
• You MUST WAIT until the red lights have stopped flashing and the stop arm has been withdrawn before moving.
• DO NOT MOVE until all the children have reached a place of safety.

The penalties if convicted of violating Pennsylvania's School Bus Stopping Law include:

• $250 fine
• Five points on your driving record
• 60-day license suspension

For more information, review Pennsylvania's School Bus Stopping Law Fact Sheet.

LMSD's Committee to Address Race in Education (CARE) Wants You!

All members of the Lower Merion School District community – students, parents and guardians, staff and residents – are invited to join LMSD's Committee to Address Race in Education (CARE).

LMSD recognizes the value and necessity of engaging all community stakeholders in our efforts to provide a high-quality education to all students. CARE was formed in 1997 in order to forge school-community partnerships and opportunities for stakeholders to work collaboratively toward this goal.

CARE meets monthly from September through May each year to:

• Communicate about issues of race that have implications for education
• Advise the District on issues of policy and practice,
• Report about programs that benefit all racial/ethnic groups
• Educate all stakeholders in an effort to increase understanding and bring all students to the highest possible levels of achievement.

Meeting dates for the 2022-2023 school year are listed below. Meetings are held in the Lower Merion High School library from 4:00-5:30 p.m.

• Oct. 19, 2022
• Nov. 16, 2022
• Jan. 18, 2023
• Feb. 15, 2023
• March 15, 2023
• Apr. 19, 2023
• May 17, 2023

To be added to the mailing list for CARE meeting reminders, please click here and enter your email address. To learn more about CARE, click here.

Financial Help for Families to Connect to the Internet

The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) will allow many American households to reduce their internet service costs by up to $30/month.

There are three different ways to qualify, and you'll be able to take advantage of this benefit if you meet any one of them.

• The first category is income — specifically, whether the money you make annually is at or below 200% of the federal poverty level. For an individual, that would be $27,180. For a couple (or any household of two), the total is $36,620. For a family of four, that total rises to $55,500. The full income chart is available here.
• Second, you'll also qualify if you or someone else in your household is a beneficiary of assistance programs including Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), the Veterans Pension and Survivors Benefit, and more.
• Finally, you're also eligible if you've already met the criteria for an existing low-income program from a local internet provider in your area.

If you'd like to claim this benefit for your family, you can start the process right here.

Which internet service providers are participating?

• Allo Communications
• AltaFiber (and Hawaiian Telecom)
• Altice USA (Optimum and Suddenlink)
• Astound
• AT&T
• Breezeline
• Comcast
• Comporium
• Frontier
• IdeaTek
• Cox Communications
• Jackson Energy Authority
• Mediacom
• MLGC
• Spectrum (Charter Communications
• Starry
• Verizon (Fios only)
• Vermont Telephone Company
• Vexus Fiber
• Wow! Internet, Cable, and TV

For more information about this service, click here.

LMSD can also help qualifying families get connected through the Comcast Internet Essentials program. For information about LMSD's Internet Essentials Program, call or email Anna O'Hora in the School and Community Relations Department at 610-645-1977 or ohoraa@lmsd.org.

Swimmers and divers are invited to join the Lower Merion Aquatic Club! This announcement is geared towards students ages 5-18 ranging anywhere in skill level from developmental to competitive.

Learn more at: www.Lowermerionaquaticclub.com

Lower Merion Aquatic Club is a registered non-profit, 501(c)(3). Financial assistance is available.

For more information please contact: LMACheacoach@gmail.com.

The federal government's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) has been extended until May 2022. The average SNAP benefit increased by $36.24 per person.

SNAP maximum allotments (benefit amounts) are updated each year based on the cost of the Thrifty Food Plan in June and take effect on October 1. The Thrifty Food Plan is the cost of groceries needed to provide a healthy, budget-conscious diet for a family of four.

For more information about SNAP, click here.

To visit the Narberth Community Food Bank website, click here.

Foster relationships. Link to resources. Advocate for you. Connect with you.

Do you need help and don't know where to start?

We can help you:

• Navigate the human services system
• Better understand services available to you
• Make referrals to organizations that will best address your needs

We can help link you to resources:

• Services for seniors
• Mental health services
• Drug & alcohol services
• Employment
• Child care
• Housing
• Food
• And more!

Hours: 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday

Phone:610-278-3522 (FLAC)

• Navicates are able to assist by phone or email to maintain everyone's safety at this time.

Free service for Montgomery County residents. Language Line services available. Learn more here.