An initiative that has been in the works for a number of years is closer to becoming a tangible reality. Monday, the ground was broken for the construction of a new daycare facility in Midale.  

"We started this group interested in opening a daycare in Midale because of the lack of childcare for us within the town," explained Kylie McGregor. She is the secretary of the group behind the project. “We started this group a couple of years ago and started fundraising and we became incorporated, did all of the groundwork for that, applied for the government grant." 

The daycare facility in Midale has been approved for 40 spaces for children from the ages of infant to pre-kindergarten. There is also a plan in place to add an additional 15-20 school-age spaces too.  

The demand for the facility in Midale is extremely high, with McGregor noting there is already a waiting list for the daycare, and that is almost full.  

The new daycare will be a lot more than an acre big and is near Midale Central School.  

The building itself is being constructed off-site and will be delivered in the fall. From there, the plan is to get the facility opened in February of next year.  

The cost to get the new daycare in Midale up and running isn’t exactly low, McGregor stated, with an estimated cost of $1.1 million. The provincial government helped out with a portion of that through a grant to help with the 40 approved spaces, and other donations, both large and small, came in after that.  

“The R.M. of Cymri, they offered to give us an interest-free loan for the balance,” McGregor explained. “So, once the building gets here, then we’ll kind of take a look at where we’re at with that, and they’ve agreed to give us that mortgage, which we’re very grateful for.” 

When it comes to childcare in Midale, there have been very few options. There were a few small day homes in the town, and for those who worked in centres like Estevan and Weyburn, many of the daycares there have waiting lists as well. This made it difficult for families from Midale to have childcare options, especially for those who weren’t yet in school.  

The number of spaces was, in the eyes of some in the community, ambitious. 

"People thought we were crazy right off the bat with 40 spaces and then 20 school-age spaces, but almost all of those spaces are filling up at this point,” McGregor exclaimed. The dearth of childcare options in Weyburn and Estevan has even resulted in some people from those communities reaching out about spots in the daycare in Midale.  

The new centre is expected to make a big difference for families in Midale and the surrounding area.  

"For many families, including my own, it was a really stressful thing not having a daycare available to us," said McGregor, who has two young daughters. "And reaching out to other areas to try and get our girls into daycare. And I know there's a lot of families in town that it's not feasible for them to go back to work, like a working mom or dad. It's not feasible and this being a funded space, it'll definitely be way more affordable." 

"But even just the fact that it's here at all, that means that a lot more families will be able to return to being a dual income household. And if that's what they choose, that's just the right decision for a lot of families, and I know it'll just help our community here be more prosperous." 

-- with files from Nolan Kowal/discoverestevan.com