P.A. daycare close to opening doors after being damaged during 2023 flash flood

“It just completely flooded everything. In the daycare, there was extensive damage… like two feet of drywall had to be cut out,” Dawn McKinnon, the daycare’s director, said.

After months of dealing with insurance and construction, the centre is expected to open its doors on Feb. 1, 2024.

The daycare is mainly used by student parents who are less than 22 years old and attend a high school or a high school equivalency program. They’re able to drop off their kids while they continue their education.

McKinnon explained because they were closed for the first semester of the school year, some student parents weren’t able to continue their education as they couldn’t find anyone to watch their kids.

“We’re just excited to have everything back to normal; to have our children come back and to provide our services again,” said McKinnon.

Not being able to do their job for the past seven months was hard on the staff. McKinnon said, at first, it looked like they faced layoffs, however, the St. Mary Daycare board of directors decided against this and kept them all on the payroll.

“We would have all been living in cardboard boxes, we couldn’t afford to live if we were on [Employment Insurance],” she added.

The daycare has 17 spots. Student parents get priority, however, if they don’t fill all the spots then they’ll be offered to community members. Right now, they have seven community members on a waitlist.

Jaryn.Vecchio@pattisonmedia.com

X: @princealbertnow

by Jaryn Vecchio

P.A. daycare close to opening doors after being damaged during 2023 flash flood

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