“The community is why this has come to fruition.”
That's how Meagan Fincham describes the multi-year drive to create a childcare facility in Magnetawan, a drive that overcame numerous obstacles along the way.
However, after years of perseverance and a lot of community support, Fincham is opening the Magnetawan Daycare Centre, which she founded and will supervise, on April 15.
In addition to Fincham, at full capacity, the daycare will include two qualified employees, which allows the facility to care for 15 children.
Fincham says one of her employees will be a graduate of the Canadore College Early Childhood Education program in North Bay.
She's also currently talking to the college about having its Early Childhood Education students perform their placements at the daycare.
Fincham is also working to have students at Almaguin Highlands Secondary School carry out their co-ops at the daycare.
The centre is located at the Ahmic Harbour Community Centre at 60 Ahmic Street in Magnetawan and is open weekdays every day of the year except for public holidays.
One-quarter of the centre is set aside for arts and crafts and includes a small table where the children eat.
Another quarter of the room is where the storytelling takes place and toys are kept while another part of the centre is the activity zone where the children work on things like blocks and puzzles.
The final section of the room is for sleeping and includes three cribs and 12 cots.
The centre also includes a large kitchen where the staff prepares morning and afternoon snacks with lunch served in-between and includes a stove, refrigerator, freezer, microwave, and three sinks.
Two washrooms and a changing room round out the centre's features.
The daycare is qualified to care for children who are zero to four years old.
The infant care cost is $48 per day, the toddler rate is $47 a day and the cost is $46 each day for preschool-aged children.
Fincham says all the amounts are comparable to other daycares.
But recognizing that the fees may be difficult for some parents, Fincham is working with the District of Parry Sound Social Services Administration Board to allow low-income parents to apply for subsidies that offset the daily rates.
Despite having room for 15 children, Fincham says she has a waiting list of more than 40 parents looking for a childcare service.
It's her hope that after being in operation for a year, she can expand to accept more children as long as she meets various government approval standards.
Magnetawan began facing a childcare crisis during 2021 when a local daycare closed and parents had to find alternative venues for the care of their children.
In some cases it meant 20 minute one-way drives to access child services in Burk's Falls or Sundridge.
Others were able to get family members to look after their children, and on rare occasions, Fincham says some parents were forced to give up working for a time.
During this period, Meagan Fincham worked as a nanny and then became a personal support worker where part of her responsibilities involved working with children with disabilities at the YMCA in Waterloo.
Fincham was 21 at the time, and with the YMCA position coming to an end, she moved back to Magnetawan, and in November 2021 she opened an in-home daycare for six children.
“This is where I saw first-hand the childcare needs,” Fincham said
“I had a wait list even before I opened the in-home daycare in 2021, and it kept growing after I opened as people told me their stories about why they needed daycare. There is an obvious crisis happening in childcare, and it's not just in Magnetawan. While in Waterloo I loved what I was doing and knew childcare was right for me. So I knew I had to be part of the solution.”
About a year later Fincham started the process to open the present facility.
The community centre is owned by the municipality, and Fincham has a one-year lease at a reduced rate at the site.
Fincham says getting a lower rent rate from the town council was just one of many instances of the community coming together to get the daycare opened.
A major contributor to the opening was the McLoughlin family of Toronto which owns a cottage in Magnetawan.
The McLoughlins closed their daycare centre in Toronto because of COVID and had tens of thousands of dollars worth of tables, chairs, shelves and toys.
They sold the entire lot to Fincham for $3,000.
The $3,000 came from a $3,500 gift from the Magnetawan Lions, and Fincham used the remaining $500 to buy the 12 cots while the three cribs were donated.
The daycare needs an enclosed fence for when the children are outside, and Fincham says the Magnetawan Home Hardware Building Centre sold her the materials for the chain-link fence at cost while Ahmic Maintenance and Storage installed it at no charge.
Fincham says when the community centre is rented to the public during evenings and weekends, all the daycare equipment gets stored in a large outdoor shed that was donated by Rob Saunders of Sudbury who has a connection to Magnetawan.
Fincham says many more groups and people made donations, and they will all be recognized during an open house at the facility May 2 from 4 to 5:30 p.m.
“Our open house is not only our way of thanking the community; it's also to show the residents what they supported through their donations and generosity,” Fincham said.
When she started the daycare process, Fincham admits she had no idea how lengthy it would be and how many government ministries she needed approvals from including the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Transportation.
“So many people told me they would have quit by now if they were in my situation,” Fincham said.
“But people were desperate for daycare and that kept pushing me forward. I'm not in this for the money. I'm in it for the community”.
Fincham says she has a website parents can access to get on a waiting list or have questions answered.
Parents can also communicate with Fincham by email.
Rocco Frangione is a Local Journalism Initiative Reporter with The North Bay Nugget. LJI is funded by the Government of Canada.
