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Before, after school program funding comes through for Kiddie Korner

Kiddie Korner Daycare will soon be helping more kids. The daycare is now the recipient of a provincial government grant, allowing them to open a before and after school program.
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A fingerpainted sign made by kids hangs on the wall at the Kiddie Korner Daycare. The daycare recently received money allowing it to start a before and after school program. - FILE PHOTO

Kiddie Korner Daycare will soon be helping more kids. The daycare is now the recipient of a provincial government grant, allowing them to open a before and after school program.

News of the grant being awarded caught Kiddie Korner director Erin Cennon off guard.

“I was pretty surprised,” said Cennon. The Kiddie Korner group had originally submitted a funding request not long before a final deadline, leaving Cennon pleasantly shocked that the group got the cash.

“We felt like it was a very long shot, but we did want to try to give the opportunity to the community if we were able to.”

The initiative received support from northern MLAs, including Flin Flon MLA Tom Lindsey, during its granting stage.

The current plan will feature the program operating out of the former St. Mary’s Ukrainian Catholic Church on Hiawatha Avenue, now occupied by the Lord’s Bounty Food Bank. The upstairs area of the building, currently owned by the Flin Flon School Division and used as “breakout space”, will be the home base of the program. The building is located directly across the street from Ruth Betts Community School and just down the street from Kiddie Korner itself, located in the same building as the school further up the block. The current space will also be renovated as part of the program.

“We started looking into this in the early winter when we found out that this grant was a possibility. We couldn’t find a location that would work for us, then through some investigation on the school board side, we found out about the upper part of where the food bank is,” said Cennon.

“The school division uses that upper area for some of their programming and because their programming wouldn’t overlap with us, they came and they offered us the option of using that space if it would work. That’s where we’ll be - right next to Ruth Betts.”

While the funding has been approved, exactly what the program may look like when it first begins is still unknown. Workers and daycare staff, as well as board members, are looking closely at what can be done and how.

“We’re still in the development stage of getting a lot of the answers that parents are asking, if there would be transportation to McIsaac. We’re still working with the school board and looking at other options to get those questions answered,” Cennon said.

“We still have some work to get done before we open in figuring out all the answers to the questions people have, but we are diligently working and we’re welcoming any feedback that parents have.”

The grant has come in handy for the Kiddie Korner group, which operates as a nonprofit.

“The board really does approach us as a community service and that we are a nonprofit centre,” Cennon said.

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