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APRIL 30, 2020
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Drive thru donation deluge
Observer courtesy photo
Williston resident and CVU student Ella Kenney takes a quick break after receiving an unexpectedly large turnout at the Williston Food Shelf Drive Thru Food Drive on Saturday morning at Williston Central School. She also collected 500 lbs. of food donations Saturday afternoon at CVU. Food Shelf volunteer Jen Selwah said that Kenney organized and managed the food drive “all on her own. I was in tears, overwhelmed. Her parents should be very proud.” Kenney collected 2,500 lbs. of food and an additional $839 in donations for the Williston Community Food Shelf. Ignite Church in Williston also collected and contributed another 500 lbs. of food to to the food shelf and gave a monetary donation. Williston Food Shelf President Ginger Morton wants residents to know that the Food Shelf is accepting new families and individuals. “Please come if you need food. We have enough food to share,” Morton said. “We have an enormously generous community!” The Williston Food Shelf is located at 400 Cornerstone Drive, Suite 330 and is open on Tuesdays 5-6:30pm and Thursdays/Saturdays 9-11am, offering curbside delivery of food during those hours. For more information, visit www.willistonfoodshelf.com.
Child care sector stabilized By Jason Starr Observer staff
Vermont’s child care industry is having a moment. Through the COVID-19 pandemic, providers and advocates are feeling the kind of government recognition and support they have been clamoring for for decades. The federal pandemic stimulus has provided at least short-term financial certainty for providers — as state and federal leaders have sought to ensure the industry remains viable through the crisis — as well as a salary bump for child care workers. It’s enough to give providers hope that the state is ready to support a more humane and sustainable child care system into the future, that acknowledges the essential role the sector plays in society. “The world just got a front row seat to the importance of child care, the absolute necessity,” said Aly Richards, chief executive officer of Let’s Grow Kids. “It’s not an accessory, it is the backbone of a functional society, for children and families, and for our economy.” Richards was speaking Monday during a video-conference with Congressman Peter Welch and other child care advocates and providers. Welch convened the group
to express his hope that the funding embedded in the federal stimulus will be a sort of baseline for future public child care funding. “What has been exposed here with the impact to our society is that we don’t have the social insurance programs at the national level that are absolutely essential for the well-being of families,” Welch said. “It’s not an ideological battle anymore. It’s about, how does a family and community survive if it doesn’t have child care?” Paula Nadeau owns Tiny Dreamers in Early Childhood, a birth-to-age-3 child care center that operates inside the Williston Federated Church. She describes an industry that has been on the ropes for years, even as groups like Let’s Grow Kids and Building Bright Futures have outlined specific strategies to stabilize it. “We have been constantly on the verge of financial collapse every day for the last decade,” Nadeau said. “We can’t let it go back to the way it was.” When the pandemic shut down the economy, Nadeau made the hardest decision of her five-year tenure owning the business. Would she stay open to serve the child care needs of parents who are state-designated essential workers? Normally the program cares
for 22 kids, five days a week. Six children, each with both parents continuing to work outside their homes as essential workers — at grocery stores, in health care, at the postal service and at the Department of Homeland Security —
“We can’t let it go back to the way it was.” still needed the care. Nadeau wanted to be there for the essential worker families in her program. But she was wary of exposing her staff by asking them to work through the pandemic. Some, she said, lack health insurance, and none make a livable wage. “Asking them to do this work knowing they are in a very vulnerable position was very difficult,” Nadeau said. “We didn’t do it right away. It took me a week to make that decision.” Some of her staff, including the center’s director, couldn’t work because they are parents of schoolaged children, and schools are closed. Nadeau herself is juggling home-schooling duties for her kids, with the help of her spouse, while running Tiny Dreamers. Two staff members agreed to
continue working, and have been providing child care to six infants and toddlers for the past four weeks. One has grown children, and the other is a single mother who brings her child to the center during the workday. The program has been reduced to four days a week, and from 10 hours a day to 8. Through the CARES Act, employees who are not working are receiving full pay. Employees who are working are receiving an increase in pay. And families who are home with their kids are paying half tuition to retain their spots in the program. Nadeau decided against opening up the program to essential worker parents who were not already enrolled in the program. Although all the children and staff are familiar with each other, the center has had a different feel than in typical times. Parents are not allowed in the classroom, and drop-offs and pickups are more cumbersome with social distancing and face coverings needed. Staff has also been scrambling to keep up with disinfecting playground equipment. “It’s been a challenge to establish a routine that meets all of our health and safety protocols,” Nadeau said. It’s also been difficult to actually receive the stimulus money that is supposed to keep providers
financially afloat. The funds are administered by the Child Development Division of the Vermont Department of Children and Families. Providers are required to file itemized invoices to the division to receive funds. The division has upstaffed with volunteers to process invoices, Nadeau said, and they are learning on the fly. “It’s a very extensive invoicing process that has been changed multiple times with very little communication,” she said. Nonetheless, Nadeau is hopeful about continued government support when the industry is able to fully re-open, especially as it relates to pay and benefits for child care workers. Public funding is the key to stabilizing the system, according to Paul Behrman, director of Champlain Valley Head Start. “This experience has really borne out the precarious nature of the industry and it’s because of the largely privatized component,” he said, speaking to Rep. Welch on the video-conference Monday. “This is an opportunity to revisit the conversation about full funding for birth to 5 services.” Welch concluded: “We need significant public funding to make sure that families have the certainty that their kids are going to get good care in the earliest years.”