By Mari Radtke
Recently Saving Grace Daycare in Paullina announced their receipt of a grant from the State of Iowa in the amount of $79,000. Plans for the money are to replace flooring, ceiling tiles and make improvements to the outside play area and equipment. Also being added to the facility is a bathroom in each of the daycare rooms. There are also up grades being made to an under-utilized room. The new “flex-room” will offer parents privacy with their children for different reasons including nursing or to act as a playroom when outside conditions Rooms are established for the age of the children. Each room then can have age-appropriate toys and activities. Williams Contracting of Calumet is doing the work.
State grant programs for daycare centers were established in response to needs made glaringly clear by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Commercial daycare requirements are written differently than home daycare. Furnishings requirments increase the cost of furnishings such as high chairs, cribs and cots. A high chair for commercial daycare costs $300. Currently, Saving Grace, with the help of this grant, has sufficient meal-time seating, but is short of the $500 cribs come March for incoming families.
Director Williams of Calumet comes to Saving Grace following 7 years as an in-home provider. She works with a board of directors, currently numbering 5. One retirement coming in the summer has been announced. Interested persons can apply at the Daycare. You must be a resident of O’Brien County.
An open house with soup supper and bake sale to help supplement the grant funds is set for Sunday February 6 from 11:00-1:00. They are serving chili, chicken noodle, cheesy potato and cheese burger. At the same time a bake sale is being held. The free-will donation event includes tours and information about the facility, its plans and becoming involved as a client family, a board member or other ways to be involved.