Co-op Family Center

01/08/2026

Happy New Year everyone!

We are starting 2026 with AMAZING news: thanks to the outpouring of support and the generous 1:1 matching gift, we are now $500 away from hitting our $10,000 direct drive goal 🎉

https://givebutter.com/CFCPlayground2025

(Note: The total amount listed on the website does not reflect the offline donations we have received.)

It is so inspiring to see what our community can do when we pull together. This milestone is a vital piece of our larger $200,000 playground renovation, and seeing the finish line in sight is such a joyful way to begin the term.

If you’ve been meaning to participate or would like to help us bridge this final gap, you can do so at the attached link.

Whether through a donation or simply sharing our vision with your own networks, we are so grateful to have you walking this path with us! ❤️

Help us give the playground new life!

12/17/2025

We have incredibly exciting news!! An anonymous donor has offered a 1:1 match for all future donations until we reach our $10,000 goal! 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

This means every dollar you give from today on is doubled. If you donate $50, it becomes $100 for our new playground. We’ve raised $4,500 so far through community support — this match is the final push we need to reach the finish line. Double your impact here: https://givebutter.com/CFCPlayground2025 We want to share our sincere thanks to those who have already donated or encouraged others to support our playground renovation fund!

If you’ve already donated, please consider sharing this news with your network! Thank you for helping us build a space where our children can flourish. It’s a beautiful reflection of what we can build together to nourish our children’s development. We believe play environments are "third teachers," helping children grow physically, emotionally, and socially. Your support helps us provide a more engaging outdoor play environment for them!

We are deeply grateful for the families and friends who walk this path with us. Your generosity creates a place where curiosity, confidence, and joy can flourish every day.

https://givebutter.com/CFCPlayground2025

Best,

Heida and Larry, Interim Co Directors, Co-op Family Center

P.S. This match makes our $200k renovation project more attainable than ever. Let's hit that $10k mark together!

12/02/2025

Co-op Family Center Community

Thank you so much to everyone who has already supported our playground renovation — we’re just over $2,500 toward our $10,000 goal, and your generosity has truly lifted this campaign. We still have four weeks left and we would be so grateful if you continued sharing our fundraiser with family and friends. Every single gift moves us closer to giving our children the safe, engaging outdoor space they deserve.

https://givebutter.com/CFCPlayground2025

With four weeks left in our fundraiser, we could really use your help getting the word out. Please share our campaign with family and friends; With Giving Tuesday, this is a wonderful moment to ask: Is there someone in your life who might want to support a local nonprofit childcare center’s efforts to update their playground?

Every single gift makes a difference to us and our chance to address the big needs of our playground!

A HUGE thank you also goes out to our teachers for helping gather all the wonderful child perspectives now seen up at the front display. The kids’ playground ideas are creative, thoughtful, and so much fun – and our teachers have been incredible partners in capturing their visions. Heather and Kim, our teacher representatives on the renovation team, have shared the collective teacher group’s invaluable insights with our landscape architects and we are so grateful for their voices and all the teachers’ deep care for the children’s needs in the outside environment! Here at the Co-op, our playgrounds are treated as extensions of our classrooms into the outdoor space. We have witnessed it firsthand and had the privilege of taking part in many outdoor games and projects throughout the years.

And finally, we’d love your involvement on our display wall too. Add a speech bubble with the playground features you love or even share your favorite local playgrounds. Your input adds so much to this collaborative process. Thank you for being part of this project with us!

11/25/2025

Help Us Carry Suzy’s Vision Forward

Suzy Blanchard, the Co-op Family Center’s founding director, built a community full of curiosity, care, and connection. She helped create our playground, a space where children explore, imagine, and grow every day. After decades of joyful play, it’s time to renew this beloved space, and memorial gifts in her honor became the first stepping stones of our playground renovation. Your support can help carry Suzy’s legacy forward by creating a safe, imaginative, and vibrant outdoor space for children and families for years to come. Every gift makes a difference – thank you for helping bring this vision to life!

https://givebutter.com/CFCPlayground2025

11/21/2025

Every day at the Co-op, our playground comes alive with muddy hands, imaginative adventures, and shared laughter. It’s where friendships start, confidence grows, and children discover new abilities that even surprise themselves.

For decades, this outdoor space has been at the heart of our community. But time, weather, and persistent flooding have taken their toll. The playground needs care, attention, and renewal so it can continue to be the place where children safely explore and grow.

Today, we’re officially launching our fundraising effort to revitalize the Co-op playground. With your support, we can create a safer, more engaging, more resilient space for the children who fill it with wonder every single day – and for the families who will join our community in the years ahead.

Every gift brings us closer to this vision. You can also help by liking and sharing our post to help spread the word.

Thank you for being part of a community that always shows up for our children – for believing in their capacity to learn through play and for helping us create an environment worthy of their curiosity.

givebutter.com/CFCPlayground2025

10/30/2025

In Memory of Suzy Blanchard, continuing to inspire

The Co-op Family Center, formerly known as Amazon, was brought to life under the leadership of our first director, Suzy Blanchard. More than a founder, Suzy was a guiding light whose vision and compassion helped shape the heart and soul of our community. For those of us who had the privilege of knowing her—through the Co-op or Amazon—her passion, wisdom, and unwavering dedication to children and families continue to inspire everything we do today.
Her vision laid the foundation for our philosophy and our practices — a legacy that lives on in every classroom, every family interaction, and every child’s joyful learning moment.

As Suzy’s family communicated, she was a force of nature who poured her heart into family, community, and the lives of countless children.

When Suzy passed away, her family suggested donations be sent to the Co-op in her memory. As we were beginning to visualize a playground renovation, we felt the timing of these donations in her honor would be the steppingstones to the new playground at the Co-op. Suzy was instrumental in involving the Co-op community, UO Landscape Architecture Department and funders in creating the original design of our playground in 1999. After many many years of happy play on the playground, it is time for us to refresh with new elements of imaginative play inspired by our philosophy and community

Please watch for the developing design of our new space

09/04/2025

We are deeply saddened to share that our beloved Suzy Blanchard — the first Director, teacher, and visionary of the Co-op Family Center (formerly Amazon Family Center) — has passed away.

Suzy was more than a founder; she was a guiding light who helped shape the heart and soul of our community. For those of us who had the honor of knowing her through the Co-op or Amazon, her passion, insight, and unwavering dedication to children and families continue to inspire everything we do.

Her vision laid the foundation for our philosophy and our practices — a legacy that lives on in every classroom, every family interaction, and every child’s joyful learning moment.

Please see the attached message from Suzy’s family with a request for stories and photos as they celebrate

Our beloved Suzy Blanchard (1945–2025), passed away peacefully at home with Dad on August 25 in Portland.
She was a force of nature who poured her heart into family, community, and the lives of countless children.
We’ve created a memorial site where you can share photos, stories, and tributes, and find updates about her future celebration of life:
https://everloved.com/life-of/susan-suzy-wisner-blanchard/
💜 In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her memory to the Co-op Family Center in Eugene, where she devoted much of her career: https://givebutter.com/zCZyta

06/24/2025

We are looking for more people to bring their experience and perspectives to our JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) Council. This group of people focuses on the details of how we are bringing belonging and community to the experience of early childhood learning and care for everyone!

04/08/2025

Help us connect with our next amazing teacher! 🥰

The Co-op is hiring!
We are looking for a Co-Lead Teacher to finish off the schoolyear with our Wobbler classroom and then move up with them to the Toddler classroom. After that year, they would follow the group to Preschool and PreK/K before looping back to the Toddler room to start with a new group of children. Please let us know if you would like to know more and feel free to share this with people that you think could be a good match for our beloved school!
Thank you! 🌺

04/08/2025

The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) Please help us find our next amazing teacher!

The Co-op is hiring!
We are looking for a Co-Lead Teacher to finish off the schoolyear with our Wobbler classroom and then move up with them to the Toddler classroom. After that year, they would follow the group to Preschool and PreK/K before looping back to the Toddler room to start with a new group of children. Please let us know if you would like to know more and feel free to share this with people that you think could be a good match for our beloved school!
Thank you! 🌺

04/08/2025

Lane Community College ECE students! Are getting preparing to graduate and wondering what will be your next step? Like LCC, The Co-op Family Center is inspired by the Reggio Emilia approach to learning with young children and is currently hiring!

The Co-op is hiring!
We are looking for a Co-Lead Teacher to finish off the schoolyear with our Wobbler classroom and then move up with them to the Toddler classroom. After that year, they would follow the group to Preschool and PreK/K before looping back to the Toddler room to start with a new group of children. Please let us know if you would like to know more and feel free to share this with people that you think could be a good match for our beloved school!
Thank you! 🌺