Pictured left to right: Kiwanis President Carol Tiesi, Gordon Meth, Day Care Director Peggy Rauscher and Foundation President, Davey Willans. Photo by Frank Cahill
The Kiwanis Club of Greater Parsippany’s Foundation recently awarded a $5,000 grant to the Parsippany Child Day Care Center, to help them purchase new playground equipment. The Mission of Kiwanis Club is to change the world one child and one community at a time.
Foundation President Davey Willans stated that “the members of Kiwanis Club of Greater Parsippany, are committed to helping ensure that all the children in our community have the opportunity to lead happy healthy lives, and having good safe playground equipment to play on can help achieve these objectives.” He went on to say “that thanks to the contributions of our Club members and “Mission Partners”, as well as supporters of our numerous fund raisers, we are able to raise enough money to award a small number of grants of this type.
Anybody interested in learning how they can help support the work of the Kiwanis Club or how to become a Mission Partner, is welcomed to visit their web site parsippanykiwanis.org, or join the group for their weekly breakfast meeting at Empire Diner, 1315 Route 46 at 7:15 a.m. on Thursday.
Peggy Rauscher said “Staff members and families at Parsippany Child Day Care Center are excited to be working on the rebuild of our Preschool Playground. The installation will begin in June 2014. We will celebrate a new Toddler Playground (Fall 2013) and Preschool Playground (Summer 2014) with an official ceremony.”
The Parsippany Child Day Care Center was incorporated as a non-profit organization in 1968. They opened with twenty children and expanded to meet the growing need for quality childcare in our community. In 1980, they moved into a new building specifically designed for child care and owned by the Township of Parsippany-Troy Hills. During the 1990s, they renovated with two additions to the building, which made room for infants and young toddlers. They are governed by a Board of Trustees, who are volunteers from our community.
The facility was designed specifically for the care of children, and was built with HUD funding. The center has a total of seven classrooms, a large multipurpose room, a full service kitchen, offices, adult and children’s lavatories. With this grant they will be updating their playgrounds to be in compliance with public playground standards for 2014.
The center is comprised of a diverse population of families and staff. They come from a variety of backgrounds and speak multiple languages from all over the globe.
A very unique relationship exists between Parsippany Child Day Care Center and Township of Parsippany-Troy Hills. The township built the original building and retains ownership of the building. A self-renewing contract allows for joint responsibility for repairs and building upkeep. Primarily the center maintains the building and the town maintains the property. They also have strong ties with civic organizations within Parsippany, including but not limited to the Kiwanis Club of Greater Parsippany, Parsippany Rotary Club and the Parsippany Sons of Italy Lodge 2561.
They are licensed to serve 131 children, but based on teacher ratios and best practices their goal is to operate at 105 children.
Parsippany Day Care Center is located at 300 Baldwin Road. To contact the administrative staff call (973) 334-7286 or e-mail them at pcdcc@optonline.net.