It was a dream come true for many in the community of Rosenort last week as the ribbon was cut on the new Small Town Kids Daycare.
A group of moms had been working on getting a local childcare centre for years, shared board member Ashley Olynick.
“It’s definitely something that we’ve needed here for a while,” she said, explaining they originally had their sights set on renovating the old fire hall, and began fundraising to that end.
While community support was high, so too was the amount they would need to raise for the renos, and it looked likely it could take years to get there.
“We were making some progress … but then COVID hit and everything kind of got derailed,” Olynick said. “It was just taking a long time, but we kept at it because we knew that there was still a need.”
Then the provincial government announced its commitment to build ready-to-move daycares and install them in communities across Manitoba. Thanks to the support of the RM of Morris, Rosenort was selected to receive one of these facilities. It went up on Spark St. in the town’s new Prairie Hearth residential development.
“All of a sudden we went from maybe being 10 years out to a year out from having the daycare that we all had dreamed of, and it was going to be so much bigger and new,” Olynick said. “We were just absolutely so thankful and just amazed and grateful … feeling like all of our work had been for something.
“We didn’t give up—we knew this town needed it and we were given the opportunity,” she said, thanking everyone who had voiced their encouragement or made a donation towards the project over the years.
The finished facility features several play rooms, infant spaces, preschool rooms, and a transitional room alongside a full kitchen as well as laundry and staff rooms.
They got the keys last fall and welcomed the first kids in early December.
Small Town Kids Daycare is funded for 74 spots for children from infancy up to age six. Right now, though, they have staffing for 22 kids.
It’s a huge step up for the community, said executive director Terry Ginter, whose previous home-based daycare in Rosenort had just eight spaces.
“So there’s been many families very excited that we’ve opened,” she said. “The need was there.”
The centre needs to hire more early childhood educators in order to increase the number of children it can care for. They are actively hiring for those positions.
“In the future, we would like to have a school-age space as well,” Ginter noted.
The daycare will be continuing its fundraising efforts toward the ongoing improvement of the facility.
“We’re still hoping to get things for our outdoor areas,” Ginter explained, pointing to the need for a storage shed and additional playground equipment.
They are also on the lookout for some new board members, as all but one of the current group have kids aging out of the facility.
