MONROE, La, (KNOE) - Jasmine and her mom, Lylia, say they're always in a giving mood.
That's why they're at the Children's Coalition in Monroe for Giving Tuesday.
"We're here to not only get volunteer hours but to also be with the community and do activities," Jasmine said.
Giving Tuesday is celebrated every year on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving to kick off the giving season. The mother-daughter duo is giving their time to volunteer.
"I'm giving back to the community,” said Jasmine. “That's what LSU Ag Master Gardeners is all about. It's just being hands-on with the different organizations and different schools here."
But Jasmine says this is not just a one-day thing, she and her mom are members of an LSU Ag Masters Gardeners class and they volunteer at other gardens too. Coming to the coalition has become a normal routine.
"She's the one that encouraged me to get into this,” Lylia said. “Even though I've always gardened as a child, my parents gardened."
But this is not the only way to help the coalition. Executive director Lynn Clark says there are other ways people can help out during the holiday season and all year long.
"We're also asking for donations of books for our free little library, which is something that's there for the community,” Clark said. “And we are asking for donations of money."
"Very thankful for this beautiful day, so we should get quite a bit done today," Lylia said.
Lylia says more people should take part in Giving Tuesday.
"I think it's a great thing,” said Lylia. “I really do. We've met some great people, got some great experience."
There are many ways you can volunteer at the children's coalition. For more information, go to https://www.facebook.com/ccnela/.

MONROE, La. (KNOE) - A food delivery service is sharing Thanksgiving with people in need.
Waitr is delivering meals to families across Monroe, but these meals weren't ordered on the app: They were donated.
"It usually runs for about a month before Thanksgiving. People, when they're ordering food, have the option to donate whatever they like," explains Waitr city manager Eric Gilbeau.
About 50 families were nominated to receive meals by the United Way and Children's Coalition, like Nichole Johnson, who says these meals mean a lot coming during tough times.
"It’s a lifesaver,” she says. “We just moved into this neighborhood. By me moving here there was a lot of pressure on the groceries and stuff like that because I had to use most of my money getting things transferred.”
Many people receiving meals, like Johnson, have young kids who were excited about the fresh food delivered straight to their doors.
"I got a bag of stuff!" one child exclaimed.
"Especially the kids. Kids are always very excited to see someone show up at the door with food in their hands for them," says Gilbeau.
Drivers like Gilbeau are just as excited as the kids to be sharing meals this holiday season.
"It’s amazing because some people are a little less fortunate than others so it's good to give back to the community," he says.
"It's a blessing to have them deliver meals," says Johnson.

Honor Roll Recognizes Sites for Overall Excellence, Superior Infant and Toddler Care, Growth

BATON ROUGE, La. -- The Louisiana Department of Education today announced nearly 300 early childhood education programs have earned a spot on the state's "Honor Roll" as a result of high performance in 2017-2018. The announcement comes a week before the state will release annual early childhood performance profiles and K-12 school report cards in the Louisiana School and Center Finder.
"Louisiana took a great step forward when it began publicly reporting the performance of early childhood centers alongside their counterparts in K-12 systems," said State Superintendent John White. "The Honor Roll released today complements that effort by recognizing and rewarding the sites that achieved remarkable success this past year. We applaud these sites for providing families, particularly those who are economically disadvantaged, with access to high quality care and for acting as models for excellence and growth."
"These are standout centers that really highlight the work being done throughout Louisiana. We are caring for our earliest learners in safe, emotionally supportive and educational environments, and because of that, our entire educational spectrum will benefit," said Tony Davis, who represents District 4 on the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. "Our state is being well served by its investment in early childhood education, and I hope we can continue to raise funding to expand these kinds of gains."
The Honor Roll recognizes early childhood programs, including early childhood centers, Head Start and pre-kindergarten, in three categories: 

• Excellence: Sites on this list achieved a rating of "Excellent," the highest possible rating, on the annual performance evaluation. The evaluation tool that informs the rating is used nationally and internationally, meaning the sites on this list are among the best in the world.
• Birth to Three: Sites on this list provided high quality instruction and care to the state's youngest learners, children birth through age three. This is significant because Louisiana serves far fewer economically disadvantaged children birth through age three, and early childhood sites typically score lower in performance categories related to these age groups.
• Top Gains: Sites on this list significantly improved their performance from one year to the next.

Overall, 299 sites made the Honor Roll for 2017-2018, up from 220 sites the previous year. Of that total, 90 were recognized in the "Excellence" category, 153 were recognized in the "Birth to Three" category, and 56 were recognized in the "Top Gains" category.  View all Honor Roll results.
Some sites are listed in more than one category of the Honor Roll. Treasures from Heaven Child Care and Learning Center in Baton Rouge, for example, is on both the "Excellence" and "Birth to Three" lists and has achieved an "Excellent" rating overall for the last two years.
"Our staff has a deep understanding of what makes a high-quality early learning environment, according to the CLASS™ tool used to measure performance, and we integrate those strategies, along with top-tier curriculum, into our daily lessons. I strongly feel this is why we were able to maintain an Excellent rating for two consecutive years," said Director Sherrel Pointer. "Excellent early childhood education is important for all children. Research has proven that the effectiveness of high quality teacher-child interactions have a positive impact on children's cognitive development, with the effects lasting through third grade."
Sites on the Honor Roll span 46 early childhood education networks, many of which oversee multiple sites on each list. The New Orleans Early Education Network (NOEEN), for example, oversees 29 sites that have made it on to one or more of the lists. The network is among the most improved in the state.


"For the first time in our network's history, nearly 20 percent of the sites in our network are receiving honors. This improvement is directly correlated to the efforts of our providers who are working tirelessly to improve learning and care for children in Orleans Parish," said NOEEN Executive Director Jennifer Roberts. "NOEEN and our partners are eager to continue our improvement this year and to continue our efforts to ensure that every child and family in Orleans Parish has an equitable opportunity to attend a high-quality early learning environment of their choosing."
Each site on the Honor Roll will receive a special badge on their performance profiles in the Louisiana School and Center Finder to signify the accomplishment, as well as a state certificate to display on-site.
The Honor Roll, now in its second year, accompanies the annual release of performance ratings. As of last year, all publicly funded early childhood education sites in Louisiana now receive an annual performance rating from the state. The overall performance ratings are based on classroom observations of the interactions between teachers and children, and are reported in four categories: Excellent, Proficient, Approaching Proficient and Unsatisfactory. These ratings appear in an interactive, online performance profile that also displays information about the level of training teachers have and the quality of materials used in each classroom. 
The 2017-2018 early childhood performance profiles and K-12 school report cards will be released on Thursday, Nov. 8, in the Louisiana School and Center Finder.