Officials with the Kiddie Sunshine Centre in Altona say a planned expansion will address the extensive need for childcare in the community and surrounding area.

Board president, Laura Wiebe, says currently daycare space in the area is available for only 4.2% of children under the age of 12 compared to the provincial average of 17.2%.

"It's really important that we have access to childcare to ensure that anyone who wants or needs it has it available to them," she said, "it's a key part to ensuring that we can welcome families into our community and have people returning to the workforce, especially for women."

According to Wiebe, there are extensive daycare wait-lists in the area with demand for spaces far exceeding the supply. She noted Kiddie Sunshine Centre alone has quite a long wait-list, having experienced it herself.

"My oldest child was on the wait-list when she was not even born yet and I didn't have a daycare space for her until I was already on maternity leave with my second child," explained Wiebe. With only four currently licensed infant spaces, she said this is a particularly challenging area for parents to gain access to the centre.

However, the hope is that the Centre's robust $425,000 expansion and enhancement project will change things. It is expected to double the childcare spaces available at the Kiddie Sunshine Centre by 2025, with up to 12 new infants and 16 new toddler/pre-school spots. It is anticipated the expansion will also create additional jobs at the daycare.

Wiebe explained the four-phase effort calls for renovations that will optimize the facility's current floor plan.

Phase one includes enhancements to the basement including new windows and an upgraded kitchen with certain commercial appliances in order to meet changing health codes. Phases two will see the expansion of the infant room, while phase three includes the addition of another toddler/pre-school room. Phase four involves expansion and enhancements to the exterior of the building.

Wiebe noted work also includes a pricey sprinkler system required to meet licensing regulations, and improved accessibility between the building's two levels.

While the Board has been chipping away at fund-raising for the last few years, it has recently started a push for corporate and individual sponsorships in order to help achieve its goal.

"One of the biggest misconceptions is that we don't need any help because we are a licensed, government-funded centre when in reality only the basic operating costs are covered...so any upgrades that we want to make that are capital in nature all need to be raised by us - a volunteer board made up of parents of children of the centre," explained Wiebe.

Answering the call for support so far is Friesens Corporation which jumped on board as the Title sponsor and announced a $100,000 multi-year investment into the project. Red River Mutual also announced a $75,000 multi-year commitment as a Platinum sponsor, and the Town of Altona has signed up to be a Municipal Gold sponsor by providing a matching grant of up to $50,000.

"We're excited that we have some of these businesses coming on board with capital sponsorship that's giving us the financial security to move rapidly on this," added Wiebe, noting Friesens' generous financial commitment means they can move forward with plans and begin renovations before the end of 2020.

As of interview time, the Board had already raised $230,000, according to the facility's web site.

Related article:
Friesens Corp. Helping To Bolster Childcare Access In Altona