Kula Café in Asbury Park is looking forward to inviting local community children and their families to a special re-launching of the popular Kula Story Hour with guest reader Cat in the Hat on hand from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Sun., May 21.
Asbury Park preschool educator Esther Piekarski, as the adventurous cat, will join story hour creator Liz McNulty for a fun time that features free pancakes for children and free coffee for adults. Piekarski is director of the Alphabets Preschool Center on Grand Avenue, which she founded in 1983.
Along with the regular story reading, children will be able to choose books to take home for their own personal libraries. Those books are being provided to Kula by the First United Methodist Church of Oakhurst which carried out a book drive for children in the community.
Kula Café and McNulty started the Sunday Story Hour in October 2014 to draw families to the new restaurant at 1201 Springwood Ave. Story reading was intended to go for three or four weeks but caught on with families and never stopped. McNulty, an early intervention provider with Monmouth Medical Center, said children’s ages have ranged at different times from two to 12 years old.
Kula Café opened in April 2013 and offers a healthy breakfast and lunch menu at reasonable prices as young people from the community complete a 16-week paid training program that leads to jobs in hospitality and other fields.
The adjacent Kula Urban Farm with its state-of-the art greenhouse is a true community enterprise selling fresh produce to area restaurants. Residents have the opportunity for paid jobs at the farm. Produce is available to the public and has become a popular feature of the Kula menu.
For more information about Story Hour, call the café at 732 455 0514.
