The Barstool Fund - Dani's Garden Childcare and Learning Center
Up next: Dani's Garden Childcare and Learning Center (Elyria, OH)
Dani's Garden Childcare is a Non-Profit Childcare center aimed at providing high quality care. They offer structured pre-school for morning and afternoon children and provide sensory and hands-on activities for children with autism, ADHD, ODD, and other neurological disorders.
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Dani's Garden Childcare and Learning Center was established in August 2014. We offer quality childcare for children ages 6 weeks to 12 years, older if they are special needs. Our center was opened to not only provide a childcare for young children but a safe, and nurturing environment for those children that are expelled or not accepted by other programs. (For example, severe ADHD, ODD, and Autism) We are not a counseling/therapy service but rather a gateway for parents and the resources they need. Many of our families are also low income and now struggling even more due to the pandemic. This creates stress in the home and sets up a scenario for possible child abuse or neglect. Many of our staff took trainings through Strengthening Families to spot these situations and provide resources and support to our families, even if its just a shoulder to cry on. During our quarantine period, our center became part of the government food program which helps us provide nutritious meals to our children, many of whom do not get this at home right now. Prior to COVID, we were open Monday through Saturday from 6:00am to Midnight. We did before and after school care and transported children to the local schools. This allowed parents to work any shift offered and know that their children were safe and happy and getting where they needed to be. Beginning June 1, 2020 this was no longer the case. In order to properly disinfect each day, we had to shorten our hours and begin closing at 7:00pm. Due to many parents hours being cut, we also closed down our Saturday care. When the pandemic hit, Jobs & Family Services began working remotely, which has now caused a slow down in the approval/renewal of childcare assistance. This in turn delays our payments or causes us to lose payment. Many of our parents work in the food service industry and lost hours over the last year, which has caused them to have shorter checks and not be able to make their payments here. Finally, due to schools being shut down, we have had to add staff to take care of our older children and make sure they are getting through their virtual school day. The center did receive a PPP loan last April but this money did not last and we began having even more problems when the state decided to pay for the schoolage children at a lower rate, even though they were here all day and more staff had to be added. Our center has recently received notice that we are getting our second star in the Ohio quality rating system, which will generate more income but getting back on track is going to take time. We are asking for help with the rent for a few months to allow the increase in payments to take effect.