The UB Child Care Center (UBCCC) will kick off its annual celebration of the Week of the Young Child with a 5k Family Fun Walk on April 13 to raise awareness and money for UBCCC, which provides care for the youngest members of the UB community.

Registration will open at 9:15 a.m. outside the North Campus child care center at 100 St. Rita’s Lane, between Alumni Arena and South Lake village, with the walk beginning at 10 a.m. at the entrance to the Amherst Bike Path off St. Rita’s Lane. At the conclusion of the walk, a party will be held from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Baird Point, behind the child care center, with a healthy lunch, music, games and entertainment for the whole family.

 The cost is $20 for adults, $15 for college students, $10 for children 12 and under, $5 for children enrolled in UBCCC and $45 for a family of up to four members.

 To register for the walk, click on the registration form on the UBCCC website.

 In addition to raising money for the center, which is a private, not-for-profit organization funded primarily by tuition and special grants from SUNY central administration, organizers hope the walk will increase awareness of the center. Many people on campus confuse UBCCC with the Early Childhood Research Center (ECRC) in Baldy Hall—“the place with the big wooden playground by the Student Union.”

 ECRC, part of the Graduate School of Education, provides preschool education, as well as research training and consultation opportunities to the Western New York community.

 UBCCC, which has locations on both the North and South campuses, provides quality child care for the children of UB faculty, staff and students ages 6 weeks to 5 years.

 “So we decided to come up with a fundraiser that would get the families from both UB centers together with the larger UB community,” says Ashley Orcutt, a teacher at UBCCC. “The walk gets everyone together in a fun, healthy celebration.”

The event also will provide families with information about healthy living. The UB schools of Dental Medicine and Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences will set up information tables, and Kohl's Cares for Kids and Womens and Children’s Hospital will give away free bike helmets to the kids, along with plates and silverware to promote healthy portions.