Thank you, Berberich Trahan & Co!

Thank you, Thank you, Berberich Trahan & Co!

The Kansas Children's Discovery Center received a generous donation from BT&Co (Berberich Trahan & Co) this week. BT&Co is a Topeka-based accounting firm that approached the Discovery Center with the opportunity to host and be the beneficiary of their annual charity auction for employees.

At the auction, BT&Co employees bid on a wide variety of donated items, enjoyed an appetizer contest, and played at the Discovery Center. Their event raised an impressive $7,000. Nearly all of the employees pitched in ⁠— donating items, bidding things up, and having a fun afternoon with their coworkers. The gift was truly a group effort!

The team at BT&Co chose between a number of projects to support prior to their auction, and picked building a new toddler boat as their goal project. The Discovery Center serves nearly 90,000 annual visitors, many of whom are children under three. The Grow exhibit is designed just for these children, encouraging them to practice using their developing muscles and imaginations. With support from BT&Co, the Discovery Center will add a toddler boat to this area of the museum. The boat will be designed for toddlers to climb aboard, fish with magnetic fishing poles and engage in the pretend play young children need and love.

Why is pretend play important? Play is essential to children’s development, teaching them about their world and building connections in the brain’s pathways. While playing, children’s natural desire to explore is stimulated. They use scientific processes while playing, exploring, creating and investigating. A child who builds is engineering, a child who climbs is building muscles, a child who pretends is practicing interacting with others and building empathy. Children need play to become our community's dreamers, teachers and leaders of tomorrow.

Thank you, BT&Co, for supporting fun new play experiences for every child.