We need wonder world! we need community awareness and support!
On June 17 parents of children at Wonder World Daycare center were informed that St. Ann’s Catholic Church will no longer continue leasing the St. Ann’s School to Wonder World. Wonder World will be given 1 year, until July 31st, 2025 to find a new home of operation.
The Wonder World board is committed to keeping Wonder World operational and is looking for alternative sites. However, this undertaking seems almost impossible. I feel very passionate about supporting operations and I am very disappointed with the decision of St. Ann’s and the position it has placed many families in.
Wonder World provides daycare service for greater than 30 families. It provides care for more than 50 kids over the summer and more during the school year. WW employs 8 full time staff and 7 part time positions. Also several of the part time jobs are filled by our high school students, which provides greater learning experiences and responsibilities for our teenagers in Slayton. The number of families and people the business supports is an important economic multiplier for our community.
How many of these parents are business owners in our community?
How many if these parents are health care or dental workers, mechanics, farmers and other workers that form the framework of our community?
The ripple effect Wonder World Daycare facility has in our small communities is enormous. It would take more than 5 new in-home daycare providers to fill the positions we would be losing, and the number of in-home providers in our area is shrinking constantly.
I am a business owner. I also have staff members at my business with kids enrolled at Wonder World. WW provides more flexibility which allows me and my staff the ability to provide service to cover the weekly animal emergencies and critical surgeries we see. WW’s child care support allows me to provide a necessary service beyond the city limits of Slayton and Murray County extending out into Lyon, Nobles, Pipestone and Cottonwood counties.
Readily available child care is a crisis in our country. With a year long deadline placed on Wonder World to find or build a sufficient space for adequate and safe functioning options our community will see a crisis. A great concern for both my business and the larger community that without local daycare, potential employees will accept positions in other towns with adequate daycare and will reject working in our community. There is an informational meeting for the public planned to learn more about the issues and the options we are faced with. PLEASE GIVE THE SUPPORT YOU CAN. Jennifer Reith, DVM Concerned Parent and Business Owner of Rural Legacy Veterinary Clinic
