Governor Jim Hunt's Smart Start Initiative Honored at Silver Anniversary Banquet

The Child Care Services Association, a product of a merger of the Day Care Services Association in Chapel Hill, NC and the Durham Child Care Council in Durham, NC, honored North Carolina Governor Jim Hunt and his Smart Start program during their 25th Anniversary Banquet held on Thursday, September 23.

The Banquet, co-chaired by Jim Goodmon, President and CEO of Capitol Broadcasting Company and Steve Toler, Director of Public Affairs, South Region, GTE celebrated 25 years of quality child care services in the Durham/Chapel Hill communities.

The Association wished to commemorate Governor Hunt and his remarkable record of achievement, vision, and leadership with Smart Start, a nationally recognized and replicated program striving to provide affordable, accessible and quality child care services to every child in North Carolina.

WRAL-TV5 produced a short video thanking Governor Hunt for all of his efforts and can be seen here.

Entertainment was provided by the North Carolina School of the Arts who performed various musical selections prior to the banquet, and a song performed by a group of children currently enrolled in the Scarborough Nursery School in Durham. Georgios Bakatsias of Durham provided a unique menu, served family style at the tables.

The guest speaker of the evening was Judsen Culbreth, Vice President and Editor-in-Chief of Scholastic Publishing, which publishes Parent & Child and Early Childhood Today magazines.




Governor Hunt meets children fromt he Scarborough Nursery School

Two members of a string quartet from the North Carolina School of the Arts



Jim Goodmon, left, and Steve Toler, right, received plaques thanking them for their efforts in co-chairing this event




Jim Goodmon, left, introduces Governor Jim Hunt and gives Smart Start a thumps-up.