For months, the Emporia Area Chamber Foundation has been working to buy the former Maynard Early Childhood Center for the purpose of converting it into a 24-7 daycare facility.
On KVOE’s On-Air Chat this week, Ignite Emporia Director Michelle Margeson had a big update: the sale will close Friday afternoon. Margeson says the exact need for local childcare isn’t exactly known, but it is significant.
Once everything is done, the former Maynard building — now to be known as Little Lyons — will serve almost 170 children.
This follows two major fundraising announcements in October, including a nearly $1.8 million Capital Projects Fund Accelerator grant for property purchase and renovations announced by the Kansas Children’s Cabinet and Trust Fund and a $552,000 Child Care Capacity Accelerator grant announced earlier in October for salaries, operations and supplies. The Trusler Foundation also added $60,000 for the facility’s infant-toddler playground, adding to the equipment already in place for other children.
Margeson says this will be a three-phase project, so fundraising work isn’t done yet. The Chamber Foundation is in the process of writing more grant applications and developing plans to sell naming rights to different rooms to finish the fundraising. The Emporia Community Foundation’s Sadie Jones Fund has granted $20,000 to start an endowed fund, and Margeson says a public fundraising campaign may be coming soon to keep Little Lyons and other local childcares sustainable.
