Welcome to BANANAS
About BANANAS
BANANAS has been supporting families in their parenting journey since 1974 working in partnership with early education providers. Our programs and services include assisting families find and pay for quality child care, parenting workshops, playgroups and professional development for all types of early care and education providers. Our support allows working families to thrive and be confident their children are in quality and nurturing learning environments.
Vision
Our vision is that all children grow up to succeed in life and that they have all the support and tools they need to be eager, joyful, and curious learners.
Mission
Our mission is to partner with all types of families and child care providers to raise happy, confident children.
Values
- We strive for excellence and integrity in all that we do.
- We look for innovative ways to serve our community.
- We consider collaboration and teamwork as integral to our success.
- We treat everyone with dignity and respect.
- We are dedicated to our Northstar – families thriving.
Where Our Name Came From
As an interesting trivia fact, the original name was “BANANAS: A Place to Find Playmates,” but it was changed after we received numerous calls from adults requesting friends for themselves and not their children. Thank goodness this happened before the internet—just imagine what we might have found in our inbox!
We get asked about our name a lot and the answer has three parts:
- The founding mothers of our organization chose the name BANANAS, first, because their children were eating lots of bananas.
- Secondly, they sometimes felt that they were going “bananas” with the 24/7 challenges of parenthood.
- And thirdly, they wanted a name that was child-friendly, memorable, and in no way bureaucratic.