Family Home Child Care Centre getting a home of its own

STELLARTON - The Family Home Child Care Centre is relocating. The centre's board recently purchased a property on Foord Street in Stellarton, formerly Fahey's pool hall.
Thelma Edwards, executive director, says the centre received a provincial government grant worth $225,000, which will go towards building a new centre.
"It will be nice to have a space we can call our own because we've moved a lot over the years," Edwards says.
The centre's location changed five times before settling in its current home on Maple Street. But Edwards says she's excited to be moving once again, this time to a larger, two-storey building.
"Being a non-profit organization, you're always struggling to pay rent but this time we'll own the property."
The new building will house the day-care offices and an after-school program will be held on the first floor. Moreover, caregivers, who currently care for children out of their own homes, will have the option of bringing children on-site once the new centre opens.
The Family Home Child Care Centre is a licensed family day care. Employees screen caregivers to take children into their own homes. They also provide the caregivers with training related to child development, safety, nutrition and more. Currently, there are 12 caregivers to care for 54 children.
"We've always wanted to have a resources area where we could host some on-site programs but we've never had the space," Edwards says. "We will now."
Edwards says they still have to hire a contractor, but she hopes the building will be ready by this fall.
Sharon Boucher, a caregiver who cares for five children out of her home in Stellarton, says the new building will be a blessing.
"The space will be open to all caregivers. We'll be able to come and go as we please," she says.
The children will have an opportunity to interact with each other in a preschool setting, she adds. So, she says, it's not just the caregivers who are benefiting from this new facility, but the children as well.