Lakin Child Development Center in Stanton is thriving

Stanton Child Resource Center board members and staff of the new Lakin Child Development Center of Stanton are celebrating the center’s recent opening. The center held an open house and ribbon cutting on Sept. 27.
Board Vice President Stacy Kutzli, Secretary Maurine Allen, and center Director Brie Pester discussed the history of the center and efforts to make the new facility a reality. Allen said the original center plans started around two decades ago.
“In 2004, a group of people that turned out to be the original board members were talking, and they really felt they needed a daycare, or some kind of childcare in the community. We had nine in-home daycare providers I think at the time. So we talked with them, and had a meeting and told them that we didn’t want to put them out of business, but we felt if we had a childcare center, that might relieve them for vacations or when their kids were sick. they would be able to count on childcare,” Allen said. “We went to visit several other child care centers in the area and saw what they were doing and they were very gracious with us to share ideas and information.”
Allen said plans for the first childcare center in Stanton were really assisted with the backing of Farmers Mutual Telephone Company.
“We would not have been able to do anything if the Farmers Mutual Telephone Company hadn’t sort of backed us. We had no money and were just starting up.
 As we developed a plan and got all the necessary paperwork together, we had a lot of people that had good expertise in different areas. Then FMTC bought the former Home Plate Restaurant building for us that served as our first center for more than a decade. A number of people assisted us in turning the building into a workable child care center,” commented Allen.
Pester, who joined the center in 2020 as an assistant director and now serves as director of the center, said they did what they could with the existing location for as long as they could.
“Every year we’d try to find a way to improve what we had down there and we would try different room concepts try to make things more open but keep kids contained and separated but still be able to have some sort of noise control. The way that the building was set up our main area was our preschool all the way up to the school age kids, and the noise level in the summer was a little much but we just maintained and at least in the summer we could go outside,” Pester said.
It was around 2017 that the decision was made to expand the center, although Kutzli said the plans changed over the years. 
“We announced our expansion project our original one and started fundraising. The original idea was to just add on to that building and then renovate what was there. Then COVID hit and that kind of put a halt to the fundraising for a couple of years because there wasn’t a whole lot you could do. While we were stopped, it really got looking at our plan for the building and whether or not we could follow some of the new rules and regulations from COVID-19. We decided that building on and renovating the existing center wasn’t going to give us the space that we needed. Plus, doing an addition, getting it completed and sealing it off and moving everybody into the new space while we renovated the old building caused an additional cost. We found out that we could actually build from scratch cheaper than what our original plan was so we revamped and redid the plans,” advised Kutzli.
 It was during that process that the technology park in Stanton got announced by the Stanton Area Industrial Foundation, creating a spot for a new location.
“We felt we could help kick that off, work together with some of the other community groups and then if we got some of the utilities, that would make the lots more accessible for other people that might be interested in building or bringing businesses to town so we worked with the Stanton Industrial Foundation and kept fundraising. It was just a long, patient process of just continually fundraising and COVID-19 increased our project costs by about $1 million. It ended up being about a $4 million project by the time everything was said and done,” stated Kutzli.
While it was a major expense, Kutzli said she and the other board members and staff couldn’t be happier to have the center.
“We have a beautiful new building that is actually designed to be a daycare and we had great input from Pester on the spaces and the storage, so we feel like we came out with a better building in the end, even though it took us a little longer to get here,” said Kutzli.
Pester said she was pleased to be a part of the process of the building’s design, and having her suggestions incorporated.
“There were things that an architect might not think about like the potential for a giant blind spot in the room for a teacher and kids. I was glad to be able to be a part of that and fix those things before the building started construction, and just getting to know how to set up the different rooms for the different age groups and make sure that they’re getting the most out of all of that space. I was also able to visit other care centers and see what they’d done. One center had a car seat cubby, so if a parent drops off a child in a car seat, they can leave it in the cubby and then the other parent can pick the child up later. We had something similar in the old building but now we have a better set-up,” advised Pester.
Kutzli said bringing the center to fruition took a lot of support from in and outside of the community.
“We went after a lot of grants but we couldn’t have gotten the grants without community donations, because grants are all about matching funds. A lot of the grants want to be the last that finishes the project, and the people offering those grants want to know that you’ve got the majority of your funds so that way they can just finish it off. Without the Axne community funds and the Lakin Foundation and Iowa West Foundation …. I mean so many great grant opportunities came together along with our community. The community really stepped up to the plate. We had businesses donate as well. Parker Hannifin does a grant program so we got grants through them, the REC donated through the sale roundup. Great Western Bank donated, and then when they became First Interstate Bank we got another donation. There were so many people and organizations that helped us that I couldn’t name them all,” commented Kutzli. “It really is just that patience of putting a puzzle together and getting the community involved, and getting the businesses involved to help support the project, then getting those grant pieces. At one point it all kind of fit together and we knew that the  project was actually happening. We sought bids in the summer of 2023 and then awarded a bid and the work started in the fall of 2023 and we started the move-in in August of this year.”
With the new space, Pester said, the center has been able to virtually double its capacity.
“Our old building had a capacity of 80 children at one time and if we would fill this building to capacity it could be up to 150 children. We’re right at 100 kids in total at the center as of now. It’s kind of nice if it’s not capacity because it gives kids more room. We had four classrooms down there and now we have seven, so we have two infant rooms, two toddler rooms, and then our preschool rooms are actually separate now. We have a three-year-old preschool room and then our four-year-old preschool. Our infant rooms are both licensed for the full six weeks all the way up to 18 months. “We also have a room for school-age children. With the expansion, we were able to completely clear our waitlist. Now our waitlist is made up of unborn babies. but they’re just all unborn babies. We also did have to add a couple staff because of having to maintain ratio in separate rooms,” Pester advised.
Kutzli said one of the other features of the new building they are pleased with is the safe room, which is the infant nursery.
“That was a prime location because infants are the hardest children to move in a storm, and now you don’t have to move them into a room, they’re just right there. You can get everybody in there and shut the doors and shut the windows. It’s basically just the room that’s built up with around five inches of concrete all the way around. That was one of the main focuses and actually that’s kind of where the expansion idea came from. We wanted to build a storm shelter down at the old location and we decided if we were going add a bunch of extra space onto the daycare why not just build a building that has a storm room in it? We’ve been working on a storm room for years and years.  This storm room is built to be capacity for our building. It has emergency lighting, emergency air flow and everything like that so if heaven forbid we would get a severe storm out here they have a great place to go where they’re going to be safe and not have not have to worry about it,” Kutzli stated.
The building is also designed to allow for more expansion if the center needs it down the road.
“The shape of the building was done on purpose to where if we need to expand we could expand again, but we’re hoping that this will last us for a little while; not that we don’t want to fill it to capacity, we’d be great with that if it happened,” Kutzli said.
Having the new center, Kutzli said, is likely going to be a great benefit to the Stanton community and the school.
“We know already the daycare has helped with classroom sizes at the school because for the last couple of years they’ve had to add a teacher for a few of their classes. They actually had to cap enrollment this year for the first time ever because they had so many kids coming in. It’s also nice to know that we can help all of the communities, not just our own, which helps draw people here and helps them see our town. Even if it is just the town they pass by on their way to and from work, they might end up enrolling in the school because they start with friends here and they start trusting teachers here,” Kutzli explained.
Kutzli said seeing the center completed and in use is still a little unreal to her. 
“After all the hard work, sweat, and tears it’s amazing just to walk into it. You just kind of want to pinch yourself once in a while. I’ve never done a project like this so it’s absolutely amazing to see your ideas go from paper to this fabulous facility and to see that it’s full of the kids, it’s awesome,” Kutzli said.
Allen said it’s been fun to show the center to members of her family that live outside of the area. 
“When the others came back for harvest they always ride in the tractor with us on the combine so we were peeking in the windows on a Sunday morning and one of my grandsons who’s 13 said ‘wouldn’t it be fun to work in a place like this with kids?’ I think that’s awesome,” commented Allen.
Pester said she’s also thrilled with the new center and is pleased with the attention they’ve been getting of late.
“I noticed once we got up here I had tons of applicants. We have high schoolers that all wanted to be here, and I think a lot of it was people wanting to see and be a part of it. Getting to be a part of something like this is amazing,” Pester stated.
Lastly, Kutzli said they are seeking the help in one final fundraising push before 2025.
“In a few months our construction loan converts to a mortgage. The remaining debt is $200,000, under 5% of the total cost. We share one more dream. We can start strong. We can start 2025 debt free. Fees parents pay can go 100% to caring for their kids and not to mortgage payments. We believe that there is a circle of 200 people who will donate $1,000 so Stanton Child Resource Center can start strong. With a $1000 gift you can be part of this 200 Circle Initiative. All donations go 100% directly to the mortgage,” advised Kutzli.
Other members of the board include Kevin Cabbage, Eric Kutzli, and Board President Sheila Mainquist.
For more information about the fundraiser or the center, call 829-2801, visit scrckids.com, visit facebook.com/StantonChildResourceCenter, or email scrc@myfmtc.com.