In Merrill, the daycare at St. John’s Lutheran Church currently serves 24 kids, but their waitlist has over 40 children’s names on it.
They want to eliminate that waitlist and expand the daycare to support 70 children.
In Lincoln County, 75% of zip codes are considered child care deserts, or areas with little to no access to quality childcare.
When Dream Up! Lincoln County surveyed 76 Lincoln County residents, 60% said they had challenges finding childcare within the past 2 years.
A total of 49% of those surveyed left the workforce themself or had a significant other or another family member leave the workforce to look after their children.
Four years ago, St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Merrill opened a daycare to meet this need in their community.
Mandy Wallace is one of the organizers.
“I, myself, four years ago didn't have adequate daycare for my youngest. She's now going into kindergarten, but I was there in that same shoe where I was like, I have to pick between my job and my youngest having care needed. And the daycare that we opened, me and Pastor and a few of our friends here, just totally relieved so much of that stress,” she said.
They can currently take care of 24 children in their facility in the basement of the church, but they want to expand and create a state of the art facility capable of serving up to 70 kids of all different ages with 6 classrooms.
“The need is high, which is why St. John and the Daycare Expansion Committee decided maybe it's time to build on and eliminate this waitlist,” said Pastor David Szeto.
They envision a lock-down system for safety, as well as a playground area with age-appropriate equipment.
All in all, their plans will cost $3.2 million, so they’re looking for community donations.
“This isn't just any home cookie sale, right? It's a capital campaign. So it's gonna take a lot of effort,” she said.
“Some ways that we can reduce that is by obtaining in-kind donations from local businesses who do electrical, plumbing, HVAC, cement, asphalt, all of that, excavating anything we can in the area,” said Wallace.
Wallace says that supporting their daycare strengthens the sense of community in Merrill, which they believe is very important, especially for young families.
“We have some really amazing daycare options available in the Merrill community, we just don't have enough of them. So that's what the whole thing that we're trying to do is. And I think that's important,” she said.
You can keep up with their project by following their FaceBook page, St. John Building Campaign: Eliminate the Waitlist.
They have a GoFundMe page where they’re collecting donations.
