Variety Child Learning Center’s largest funding event of the year raised $150,000 from its supporters, which will go toward educating children with learning, language and behavioral challenges across Long Island.
The center just reached its 60th anniversary during its Thursday, May 7, event at Crest Hollow Country Club in Woodbury, and boasts at having educated and empowered nearly 12,000 students across its six decades.
“Things looked very different in 1966, but they also look different in terms of families’ capabilities, families’ awareness, families’ access and the use of technology,” Janet 1/3 Koch, Variety’s CEO, said. “Now we’re kind of building what we will be pioneering and what will take us forward into the next 60 years and … teach our communities a little bit more, to get us all ready to help kids going forward.”
The center was established by founder Judith Bloch, who started the center in the basement of a church. Since then the non-profit has expanded to three locations across Long Island, and offers a range of educational services.
The center has campuses in Syosset, Levittown and Northport, which is in its first year of operation. Koch said its most recent location and its Levittown campuses offer classes for students in kindergarten through second grade, even offering integrated classes for typically developing students to learn alongside those with disabilities.
Koch said the center has found that integrating classrooms has become a model that works well for young learners and exposes them to differently-abled children, expanding their awareness of disability and their acceptance of it.
Variety Child Learning Center CEO, Janet Koch (left), celebrated the center’s 60th anniversary with past and present board members.
Variety Child Learning Center CEO, Janet Koch (left), celebrated the center’s 60th anniversary with past and present board members.
Variety Child Learning Center’s largest funding event of the year raised $150,000 from its supporters, which will go toward educating children with learning, language and behavioral challenges across Long Island.
The center just reached its 60th anniversary during its Thursday, May 7, event at Crest Hollow Country Club in Woodbury, and boasts at having educated and empowered nearly 12,000 students across its six decades.
“Things looked very different in 1966, but they also look different in terms of families’ capabilities, families’ awareness, families’ access and the use of technology,” Janet 1/3 Koch, Variety’s CEO, said. “Now we’re kind of building what we will be pioneering and what will take us forward into the next 60 years and … teach our communities a little bit more, to get us all ready to help kids going forward.”
The center was established by founder Judith Bloch, who started the center in the basement of a church. Since then the non-profit has expanded to three locations across Long Island, and offers a range of educational services.
The center has campuses in Syosset, Levittown and Northport, which is in its first year of operation. Koch said its most recent location and its Levittown campuses offer classes for students in kindergarten through second grade, even offering integrated classes for typically developing students to learn alongside those with disabilities.
Koch said the center has found that integrating classrooms has become a model that works well for young learners and exposes them to differently-abled children, expanding their awareness of disability and their acceptance of it.
The center also offers at-home education for its youngest learners. She said home classes provide significant learning for students, but allow parents to learn alongside their child – what works best for them and how to continue their learning when educators are not around.
During the luncheon fundraiser, Koch said the center honored long-time supporter, First Long Island Investors, LLC, for its decades-long partnership with the center. She said First Investors co-founder, Ralph Palleschi, served on the center’s board of trustees for more than 30 years, and retired from the board in 2025.
Koch said that during Palleschi’s decades-long tenure, he was able to secure millions in funding for the center and said that back in the ‘90s, he raised nearly $3 million that would go toward an expansion of the center’s building in Syosset.
Koch said donations like these are crucial for the vitality of Variety since state and county grants have typically not been enough to sustain its operations.
She said the center’s total budget came out to around $25 million this past year, of which about $23.5 million is funded from government grants, which make up tuition money and the costs that cover the immediate needs of the center’s students.
Although donations account for just about 1 percent of funding for the center, Koch said the extra financial support has made a world of difference.
“There’s nothing more rewarding than seeing the impact and the difference that you can make in a child and a family’s life,” Koch said. “Children come to us with no speech; sometimes they’re not able to walk, and by the time they leave us, that child is ready to go to the next chapter and perhaps go to their public school in an integrated class, in a more typical environment. It’s a very, very impactful place to be.
Variety Child Learning Center honored First Long Island Investors LLC for its long-time support of the center. Provided by Variety Child Learning Center
Variety Child Learning Center honored First Long Island Investors LLC for its long-time support of the center. Provided by Variety Child Learning Center
The center also offers at-home education for its youngest learners. She said home classes provide significant learning for students, but allow parents to learn alongside their child – what works best for them and how to continue their learning when educators are not around.
During the luncheon fundraiser, Koch said the center honored long-time supporter, First Long Island Investors, LLC, for its decades-long partnership with the center. She said First Investors co-founder, Ralph Palleschi, served on the center’s board of trustees for more than 30 years, and retired from the board in 2025.
Koch said that during Palleschi’s decades-long tenure, he was able to secure millions in funding for the center and said that back in the ‘90s, he raised nearly $3 million that would go toward an expansion of the center’s building in Syosset.
Koch said donations like these are crucial for the vitality of Variety since state and county grants have typically not been enough to sustain its operations.
She said the center’s total budget came out to around $25 million this past year, of which about $23.5 million is funded from government grants, which make up tuition money and the costs that cover the immediate needs of the center’s students.
Although donations account for just about 1 percent of funding for the center, Koch said the extra financial support has made a world of difference.
“There’s nothing more rewarding than seeing the impact and the difference that you can make in a child and a family’s life,” Koch said. “Children come to us with no speech; sometimes they’re not able to walk, and by the time they leave us, that child is ready to go to the next chapter and perhaps go to their public school in an integrated class, in a more typical environment. It’s a very, very impactful place to be.