Correction note: this article has been updated from a previous version in which the date of the upcoming anniversary event was erroneously reported to be Friday, April 28. The correct date is Saturday, April 29.
The Reid Memorial Presbyterian Church’s Mother’s Day Out (MDO) and Preschool will be celebrating 50 years this month.
The Junior League held the first session of what would become one of the church’s longest-running ministries in 1972.
“It was an idea that came from some members of the church who thought it would be great to give some of these moms a break,” said Anna Sanders, director of MDO. “There wasn’t anything really like this around in the community.”
The Junior League would eventually rent out space at the church and commandeer the program, running it from the children’s wing of the church for several years.
Martha Moody was among those first members who would serve as teachers at the preschool. She had already been teaching at Covenant Presbyterian Church’s kindergarten when staff at Reid Memorial called her to help launch the new preschool, tending to four-year-olds.
“I had 12 little children and no assistant,” Moody said. “It really got tough in there sometimes… I remember the days when it would rain, and we had no beautiful playground like they have now. But we got through it. We read lots of books and played lots of games and learned all the ABCs and all the things they needed to learn when they were going into kindergarten.”
The Mother’s Day Out Preschool’s motto is “Growing at Reid, rooted in Christ,” which, according to Sanders, aptly expresses its charter. The nonprofit outreach program runs from from mid-August through mid-May, offering childcare and learning “fostered through Christian example.” Members volunteer in the program, participating alongside teachers, often reading to children weekly during its storytime.
“Our missions are so important,” Sanders said. “And this is a huge part of that for our church, just being able to serve these children in this way.”
Sanders has served on the board of the MDO since 2019 and became interim director during the COVID pandemic.
“I just have a love for kids and for my church,” said Sanders, who has also taught in public school at the elementary and preschool levels for some 20 years. “It was just so special to me to have an opportunity to also work here at my church, and to continue the mission of this program, which is a ministry of serving our community.”
Commemoration of the the MDO’s anniversary will consist of an all-ages event on April 29 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., complete with live music, yard games, face painting and grilled hot dogs, and even a raffle for a gift basket of items worth more than $1,000.
Then, the following Sunday, the church will hold its annual Recognition Day during worship, which honors the MDO’s staff teachers.
“This will be extra special, because anybody who attends is going to be a part of our procession,” Sanders said. “Which will be really neat to see all the ages of people who’ve been a part of this.”
Moody, still a member at Reid, now had a granddaughter working at the preschool, and great-grandchildren attending, seeing it as a kind of “hand-me-down” family school.
“I’m so proud of those girls,” she said. “We were so happy that it worked out so well after all these years. I feel real proud that was able to be a part of it.”
Reid Memorial Presbyterian Church, at 2261 Walton Way, will hold the MDO Preschool 50th Anniversary celebration on Saturday, April 29 at 4 p.m.; and its Recognition Day during Sunday morning worship on April 30, at 10:30 a.m. For more information visit https://reidchurchaugusta.org/ministries/mdo-preschool/.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
