The La Cañada Presbyterian Church’s Parent Education Program capped the end of its 38th year by honoring three long-serving staff members.
Jan Roberts was honored for her 25 years of dedicated service teaching parents of children ranging from elementary school age through college. She expanded the curriculum of the Parenting Elementary Kids classes, spearheaded the development and implementation of the Tween and Teen Classes, conducted Parent Ed Seasonal Crafts Workshops and created a Parenting College Kid’s Class, which she presently teaches through her in-home business that she has run since 2008. Roberts is well-loved throughout Parent Education and known in the community as the “Parent Coach,” writing a popular weekly column for the La Cañada Flintridge and Pasadena Outlook publications. In 2012, she was named Parent Ed’s Shining Star.
Director Anne Bierling said: “We are quite blessed by all the Parent Only Classes that Jan Roberts pioneered — which are not available anywhere else in the country and which Jan has set a standard for excellence in teaching.”
Nanette Brown was honored for more than 20 years of dedicated service by being named Parent Ed’s 2017 Shining Star. The recipient of this accolade exemplifies Parent Ed’s commitment to strengthening families both locally and globally, and is awarded to a person who has had a significant impact on the community, especially its families and children. Brown has been very instrumental in Parent Ed’s foundational classes teaching: Growing Families, New Babies, Infants, Older Infants and Non-Separating Toddlers. In these classes, she has successfully striven to foster the bond between parent and child through compassionate and supportive learning environments. Outside of Parent Ed, Brown is mother to seven and a licensed foster parent. She has been involved in street ministry with Young Life in Armenia and continues to do work with an orphanage in Southern Sudan as well as ongoing service at Harambee. For the past 6½ years, Brown has helped lead a church for the homeless in Pasadena’s Central Park providing food, compassion and Bible teaching to all who attend every week. “Nanette has deeply touched so many families by her authentic support, gifted teaching, and ongoing service where she sacrificially opens her heart and home to others.”
Anne Bierling, director, was honored for her 10 years of leadership at Parent Ed. A mother to three, Bierling is a licensed marriage and family therapist and former high school teacher and administrator who has brought passion and dedication to LCPC Parent Education. As the director, she has been instrumental in promoting current classes throughout the San Gabriel Valley, while working diligently with staff on expanding the number of options that Parent Ed is able to offer each year.
Carol Van Citters, Parent Ed Board chair, said of Bierling, “Anne is one of the most gifted person I have ever come to know. She is one of those rare breeds who can simultaneously understand the big picture and the little picture which, in a program that helps parents to parent their children is absolutely critical. There are the immediate administrative needs of the program, there are the needs of the parents and there is an overarching need to understand that we need grace in our lives for us to be the most effective parents we can be. Anne understands all of this and that is why the program continues to flourish and why we are so blessed by her presence in this community.”
Parent Ed will begin its 39th year in September. For those with children between 0-18, there is a class for you. For more information on class listings, staff bios and online registration, visit lacanadapc.org/parented. Scholarships and payment plans are available. Affordable childcare is offered during all class times. La Cañada Presbyterian Church is located at 626 Foothill Blvd.
