Future Radville Daycare a Community Effort

A new daycare facility is on the horizon for families in the Town of Radville and the surrounding area.

Radville Community Grown Childcare Inc is an organization working to bring a daycare facility to Radville, and they've been doing it through the help of the community.

"All within Radville and the surrounding area, we have lots of people from Ceylon, Minton, Gladmar, that have definitely been helping and supporting us because they're part of our community," said Radville Community Grown Childcare board president Michelle Howse. "Either they might work in this area or their kids go to school here, or they hope to be able to use the daycare, so it's been Radville and area that's been really supporting us in all of our fundraising efforts."

The board of 10 has been working for five years to make it happen.

"It all takes time, there are so many processes and steps and there's no laid-out handbook really," she qualified. "So with all of us being volunteers, we're just taking it step-by-step, trying to figure it out and work through it as we go. So we have our board, but then we are lucky because we've had quite a few people out of the community, friends, family step up and always be willing to help us out."

It has been important to the entire community, indeed. Howse noted that Radville does have one day home, but the next closest daycare is a 45-minute drive away, which just isn't feasible for most families. She said the need for another facility is high enough to be contributing to unemployment or underemployment in Radville.

"It's actually stopping people from being able to go back to work in our community, which is really disappointing, everybody should be able to have that opportunity and have childcare," she expressed.

Howse said so far, they haven't received any funding from the government towards the new daycare.

"We've been applying for the past five years, and haven't received any, which is really unfortunate," she said. "We're going to be re-applying again this spring."

Despite not having funding from the province, they have been working within the community through a variety of fundraisers, including raffling off playhouses built by volunteers.

"We don't know of any not-for-profit daycares around that have been able to do this on their own," Howse shared. "If this is something that's important to you, write to your MLA and let them know that we need this daycare facility in Radville, and if it's funded, then that's that much less money that has to come directly out of our fundraising efforts and out of the pockets of the community."

She said they're currently in the process of having their new modular building inspected.

"We're waiting on approval from building inspectors before we can move our building to our site," Howse explained, explaining that the red tape includes how much square footage of sunlight comes in and how many square feet per child is allowed. 

"So once we have those approvals in place, then we hope to look at hiring staff and set a better timeline," she noted. "We were hoping for January 1st but that's just a hope, there are no guarantees yet."

Howse said as families grow, so does the demand.

"We are hoping for 25 spots. If we end up with 20-22 spots, we'll still be ecstatic with that, just because of the square footage we were able to do with this building layout," she estimated. "I believe on the board alone we're able to fill half those spots with just our kids."

Not only will a new daycare help parents in the Radville area to go back to work, but it will also create jobs in the community.

"Hopefully it'll create several jobs, some full-time, some part-time," she said. "That's exciting in a small community like ours, to be able to have that opportunity for another place to work."

She said their current winter fundraiser is potted poinsettias, planters, and wreaths. Find out more HERE.

"We did it last year and the plants are beautiful, I still have mine," she noted. "So we hope that it'll be another successful fundraiser."

The lasting benefit of community contribution, after all, goes full circle.

"We've been really trying to think outside the box, and not do the same old fundraisers, and get the community involved," she shared. "It's not just the parents who have the kids that are going to go to this daycare, because it takes the entire community to be able to help fund this project, so we want to be able to offer events and bring something different to our community."

Howse added they have a donor recognition strategy in place, and once the daycare is up and running they will have a permanent, tree-themed donor appreciation installation.

Anyone interested in supporting the RCGC through sponsorship is welcome to contact Michelle Howse at 306-861-4274 or email to michelle.howse@hotmail.com or find them on Facebook.