End of construction nears for delayed day care center

The expansion of Children's Home and Aid's low-income day care center in Schaumburg is entering the home stretch after a freeze of its state funding kept construction on hold for five years.

For 18 years, the organization's been using Our Savior's United Methodist Church in Schaumburg for the 42 children it serves. But early next year the new building next door at 725 E. Schaumburg Road will hold as many as 110 children.

As good news as this is, especially given the economy, it puts into perspective how many low-income families and single parents were not able to get off the waiting list in recent years.

The whole point of the project is to help such parents work, look for work or go back to school, said Karen Selman, vice president of Northwest Suburban Services for Children's Home and Aid.

While the money to finish the center was frozen by Gov. Rod Blagojevich in 2003, the village of Schaumburg and many local state legislators kept completion of the center a high priority.

"I've never seen a community as supportive of this work as Schaumburg has been," Selman said. "Someone once said you can judge a community by the way it treats its poor."

Kent Suarez, Children's Home and Aid's chief financial officer, said that when the funding freeze occurred, $1.4 million of the $4.3 million project was already in the ground.

The balance is being made up by with a loan from Schaumburg-based American Chartered Bank. The money is to be repaid through an ongoing fundraising campaign.

Parents will be able to take advantage of the expanded services as soon as the new building opens in January. Community volunteers will gather on Nov. 8 to install the new playground equipment, followed the next day by a massive effort to complete the surrounding landscaping.

As for prioritizing applicants, victims of child abuse or neglect are accepted first, followed by the children of adolescent parents and then low-income children. After that, children are accepted on a first-come, first-served basis, with priority given to Schaumburg families.

That system is designed to accommodate the most pressing emergency cases first, Selman said.

The organization is soliciting donations to the fundraising campaign. For details, see childrenshomeandaid.org.