How does it all feel? Quietly, 21-month-old Ramiel Dickson might be processing this question as he sinks his small hands into a bed of corn kernels — the contents of a “sensory play” bin intended to develop his understanding of physical environment.

As he scoops the corn in his palms, Ramiel appears to be paying attention to more than just his sense of touch. His brown eyes scan the inflated jack-o-lanterns and strung-up paper bats lining the children’s playroom for a soon-to-begin Halloween party.

And when his parents, Okeena and George Dickson, call his attention to some corn that has become scattered on the carpet floor, Ramiel’s ears perk up — and he dutifully begins picking up the fallen grains.

Here, on a recent evening at the First 5 Contra Costa center in Pittsburg, the two parents are exhausted from a long work day. But they are in high spirits, enjoying a “third place” — beyond home and their jobs — to enjoy quality time with Ramiel and another son, 6-month-old Nathaniel.

The couple, who both originally hail from Guyana, moved from the east coast to Antioch three years ago. In a blink, they were raising two boys, plus caring part-time for a pair of “bonus children” from George’s previous relationship.

Their story doesn’t necessarily imply the kind of tragedy or grit that the word “charity” often brings to mind. Instead, Okeena and George’s situation may be relatable to any young immigrant family without the uncles and aunts, or larger communal support, that helped raise children in their home countries.

What they find at Lincoln Families — the nonprofit that offers programs for parents with children aged 0 to 5, hosted at the First 5 center in Pittsburg — is a helping hand for providing basic care to toddlers and shaping them into empathetic, well-adjusted young people.

Okeena, 28, and George, 32, learned these challenges the hard way after arriving in the Bay Area, working long hours to afford a larger place for the growing family. This was no bed of corn kernels, but the couple could tell you: it was all beginning to feel like a lot.

Pregnant with Ramiel, the young mother had been carving out some precious bonding time with George’s bonus son, then-1-year-old Kash, when she ran into another mother outside the First 5 Center, which happened to be located right next door to Okeena’s place of work.

Quickly, Okeena was introduced to the center’s executive director, DeeAnna Granata, a Pittsburg native with a particular passion for helping families provide care for children.

“I just needed help to get balance back in my life,” Okeena said in an interview. “She let me know that I had walked into the right place.”

If any organization can be called a Bay Area staple, it is Lincoln Families, founded in 1883 as a sewing circle for neighborhood girls in West Oakland.

In the 141 years since, the nonprofit has expanded across the region to accommodate hard-striving families who relocate inland to areas like Contra Costa County for better housing affordability.

Lincoln Families has been named a top workplace by a survey conducted by this news organization several times over the past decade.

This year the organization hopes to raise $10,000 through the East Bay Times’ annual Share the Spirit campaign, which highlights organizations that strive to help vulnerable families to establish a better footing in life.

Inside Pittsburg’s First 5 center, Lincoln Families educates not just children graduating from infancy to toddlerhood to kindergarten age, but it teaches parents, too, about healthy ways to put their kids on the right path.

“We’re not a typical preschool where you can just drop off and go,” Granata said in an interview. “You’re actually there, learning alongside your children.”

For basic needs, the nonprofit offers diapers, car seats and other services to families that can’t afford them. The vast number of classes include activities for adopting motor skills, forming and writing letters, basic problem-solving and learning about the “magic of reading books.”

Some of Lincoln Families’ services saw a crunch during the COVID-19 pandemic, and now high federal interest rates have strained the public’s generosity: Charitable giving dropped 2.1% across the country last year following inflation. The organization’s leaders are anxious for a rebound.

Okeena and George haven’t just helped her children grow through the programs; they have also established a crucial social structure, with a community of other parents who would soon file into the First 5 center’s Halloween party.

“In Guayana, I grew up on an island where it’s a smaller community — everybody kind of knows everybody,” George said in an interview. “There’s a trust instilled there that you don’t have to think about. Here, you don’t know people like that… there’s a trust factor we have here.”

As he spoke, George watched as Ramiel waddled away from his corn bin to a nearby chair, grasping at some loose sheets of paper that didn’t belong to him, filled with words he’ll one day be able to read with ease.

Ramiel’s parents were raised in a country where parenting carried an emphasis on obedience. But the program at Lincoln Families has taught George and Okeena to “redirect” their kids choices toward positive behavior.

“Rami, this is not your paper,” Okeena said, demonstrating this lesson. “Do you want to play with the horse instead, or go back to the toy box?”

The techniques are meant to lay the groundwork for a deeper kind of child development. And as Ramiel wandered back to the parents, she lifted him up off the ground — feeling, as her child does, the touch of familial bond, in a place built to nurture it.