A daycare at Lakehead University found a friend in the province to make its new home a reality.
The Nanabijou Childcare Centre has been running at the school for 25 years. Starting with preschool, it expanded over the years to add a toddler, school age and summer camp programing along with evening care services.
"And then we ran out of space," said executive director Shelia Wilhelm.
It took over rooms in two different buildings at Lakehead. The waitlist can sometimes be up to 300 children of student, staff, faculty and the community at-large.
Thanks to support from the students, who recently voted to increase fees by $5 to get a new home built, everything was going well without external support. That is until the $3.8 million estimate for the 8,200 square foot building came back nearly $750,000 over budget.
But as MPP Michael Gravelle announced Tuesday morning, the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund stepped in with $1 million and the building, which can be seen from Oliver Road just in front of the Hangar, is now well on its way to welcoming 110 kids next fall.
"It's obviously something that's been very much needed," Gravelle said.
Wilhelm said it's an exciting day.
"The project would have had to stop," Wilhelm said if the province hadn't stepped in. "This is awesome. This is a dream come true."
Along with tireless hours of volunteers and staff at the university to get the shovels in the ground, Gravelle and Wilhelm said the overwhelming support from the Lakehead University Student Union has been amazing. Charmaine Romaniuk, vice-president of student issues, said parents looking to go back to school now have an opportunity to do so.
"It's very very necessary," she said.
