River Forest Community Center

08/28/2026

📚➡️🌳 Books packed. Totes ready. Adventure loading...

Our RFCC kids turned "pack your bag" into a full-blown parade today, totes stuffed with their favorite books, marching straight out the door to their new outdoor classroom! ☀️

This is exactly what your donations make possible: fresh air, good books, and a little extra magic in learning. Every tote given, every dollar raised, helps us build more moments like this.

Want to help us keep the parade going? 💚 https://givebutter.com/Celebrate_51_Years_of_RFCC

08/27/2026

🌟 Community Spotlight: Carter Cook's Eagle Scout Project 🌟

We're so excited to share that local Eagle Scout Carter Cook has completed his Eagle Scout service project right here at RFCC, transforming our Early Childhood playground into a safer, more beautiful, and inviting space for our youngest learners! 🌳

This project holds a special place in Carter's heart. He attended RFCC's Early Childhood Program for two and a half years, and his vision was to create an outdoor classroom and gathering space for the children. This was a meaningful way of giving back to a place that shaped his own childhood. 💛

The project includes:
🪑 Recycled picnic tables and benches for a cozy gathering area
🌱 Fresh mulch around the playground structure for added safety
🎨 A beautified sand area with fun fencing and chalkboards
🧩 New interactive elements for the kids to enjoy

Carter even added an environmental twist. He collected and recycled plastic bottle caps to help create the recycled furnishings! With help from RFCC families, neighbors, friends, and volunteers collecting, cleaning, and sorting caps, this project has truly become a community effort. ♻️

Thank you, Carter, for your hard work, heart, and dedication to giving back to RFCC. The children love the finished playground! 👏

08/26/2026

🌟 Team Spotlight: Meet Miss Alexus! 🌟

Chances are you've already spotted her working her magic in our newly expanded Infant, Toddler, and Twos classrooms. Meet our amazing Infant & Toddler Program Director, Alexus! 👶🧸

With almost 10 years of childcare experience (yes, TEN, she's basically a baby whisperer at this point 😅), Alexus brings so much heart, energy, and expertise to our littlest learners every single day. And if that wasn't impressive enough, she's also currently working on her Bachelor's degree at Illinois State University! 🎓👏

We are so lucky to have her leading our infant and toddler rooms, ask any parent (or any baby, if they could talk 👶) and they'll tell you the same thing. 💛

Give Miss Alexus a shoutout in the comments if she's made your little one's day brighter! 👇

08/25/2026

Week one: SURVIVED. 🎉 (And by "survived" we mean thrived, giggled, and maybe napped a little too hard 😴)

New friends? Made. 🧸
Snack time? A hit. 🍎
Happy tears? So many (ours included 😅)

Our littlest learners are settling in and lighting up our days already. Here's to a whole year of this kind of magic! 💛

08/24/2026

We’re hosting a Panera Fundraiser today!

📅 Monday, August 24

⏰ 4:00–8:00 PM

📍 Panera – 7349 Lake Street, River Forest

Skip the cooking, grab some Panera, and help us raise some dough for RFCC!

Use code FUND4U when ordering online, in the Panera app, or at the in-café kiosk. 25% of sales will be donated to RFCC! 🙌💚

08/20/2026

🚨 BAG CHECK! 🚨

Raise your hand (or your tote) if you've got YOUR fundraiser bag yet! 🙋‍♀️👜

Here's the deal: donate $51 or more, and one of these beauties is yours. No strings attached - just good vibes and a seriously cute bag. 😎✨

Already donated? Come claim your prize, friend! 🎁
Haven't donated yet? What are you waiting for?! The bag isn't going to grab itself. 😉

Let's fill these hands with bags and this fundraiser with wins! 💛 Donate $51+ today and swing by to get yours.

👇 Tag someone who NEEDS a new bag (we all know one)!
https://givebutter.com/Celebrate_51_Years_of_RFCC

08/19/2026

08/19/2026

Hearing from our families always makes our day. 💛 Here's what one of our parents had to say! 👇

Aiden’s previous daycare was well run; I want to be fair about that. But it was formulaic in a way that left little room for exploration, and we noticed it at pickup. Our joyful, talkative kid came home muted.

River Forest Community Center changed that. Aiden made friends within weeks, and the staff supported him rather than steering him. He’s engaged, he asks questions, and the questions land somewhere. Socialization is treated as a priority here, not a byproduct.

RFCC also serves kids and young adults across age levels, and the services and supports that help them develop are built into the day rather than bolted onto it. Coordination has been simple every time.

What I value most is harder to put in a brochure: this is one of the most diverse settings in River Forest for a child to grow up, surrounded by kids of every background and ability. That shapes him daily.

-Kevin Ryan
River Forest

08/14/2026

🚨 CLASSROOM PREP MODE: ACTIVATED 🚨

Our teachers are busy turning our rooms into tiny wonderlands, sanitizing every toy (twice 🧼), stocking snacks by the truckload 🍎, and testing out ALL the naptime cozy corners for "quality control" 😴.

Cribs? Ready. ✅
Sensory bins? Overflowing. ✅
Tissues on standby for the first-day tears (theirs AND ours)? Absolutely. 😭

Monday, these rooms fill up with tiny shoes, big giggles, and a whole lot of love. We cannot wait to welcome our littlest learners! 💛

To our amazing teachers pouring your hearts into every crib, cubby, and coloring station — thank you! See you Monday! 🧸📚

08/11/2026

🎒 Meet a couple of our RFCC totes' biggest fans!

Our director couldn't resist showing off one of our new tote bags with a little help from one of our youngest RFCC friends. Donate $51+ and you could be showing off your own tote too — first 100 donors only!

👉 https://givebutter.com/Celebrate_51_Years_of_RFCC