Hawks new daycare center takes flight

The Hampton Daycare Center officially opened its doors to families last Monday, one week after the target opening date. With 14 children now within its walls, the former Hampton Lutheran School has come back to life with lively atmosphere. It’s a welcomed change for daycare assistant director Jenna Hansen.
“I love being around kids and working in this daycare for the past few months with no kids in it has just felt so strange,” Hansen said. 
Working as a toddler teacher, Hansen said it had been an exciting, yet challenging week for children who weren’t used to being away from their parents.
“It’s been amazing, but getting them into the routines is always a struggle that first week,” she said. “Missing parents when they’re dropping them off, a lot of crying, a lot of sad hearts for the kids, but we’re making it through.”
Tamara Wiens, president of the board of directors of Hampton Daycare Center, Inc., said childcare was highlighted as one of the most needed developments to help Hampton grow during a survey that took place last year.
“There were three main things identified,” Wiens said. “One being more housing, two being a restaurant and three being childcare. Now that housing is being developed and we’ve had the restaurant open, the daycare is part of the trifecta of things that were identified.”
The former school building has been renovated and updated to accommodate the needs of the daycare to operate as required by the state Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and the State Fire Marshal. Renovations included the entire building being repainted, new flooring, an additional bathroom, updated cabinets with locks, new doors as well as a camera security system for the interior and exterior of the building.
In the past few weeks, the daycare passed its inspections by the State Fire Marshall Office as well as for state childcare and sanitation.
“We actually did a lot of renovations to the building,” Hansen noted. “There were people in here all summer long, just working away.”
The daycare currently has two classrooms in use, with one room housing the “Hawk’s Nest” for children who are between 6 weeks and 18 months old, and the other classroom is the “Hawklings Room” with children ranging from 18 months to kindergarten. 
“(It was challenging) setting boundaries with kids where sometimes at home, they have different rules than they’re going to have here,” Hansen said. “Understanding for them that, Mom and Dad will be back to come and get you, but you have to behave here a certain way. I know that it might be harder for them, but these kids are all great kids, so they’ve all understood really well.”
The daycare is open on weekdays from 7 a.m.-5:30 p.m. with the exception of national holidays. It will follow the lead of Hampton Public Schools in regard to closures due to inclement weather.
The building’s capacity is currently at 44, but there are no openings at this time since there are only six employees. Two more positions are yet to be filled. “It just always depends on how much room we have and staff we have available,” Wiens stated. “Right now, we don’t have the staff for that.”
Finding grants and donations for the daycare has been an ongoing struggle for the board and staff according to Wiens.
“It just takes time to fundraise, but we have been so lucky to receive some grants and many donations from the community,” she stated.
Infant teacher Zaya Stuart said donors provided toys for both classrooms prior to opening.
“There were a lot of toys and equipment given to use that I feel helps supply the room,” Stuart said. “I don’t personally know what was donated and what was bought on our side, but it seems like there was a lot of public (support) that was really helpful.”
Meals for children and staff will be provided and delivered to children from the kitchen at Hampton Public School. 
“We also allow for moms who are still breastfeeding to bring in breast milk and we can store that in the fridge or if they want they can come in and breastfeed their child,” Stuart stated. “We have a room that they can go into if they want some privacy.” 
While eager to have the daycare expand, Wiens said the board and staff are focused on providing the best quality care for the current attendees.
“What we want to focus on is retention of quality staff and sustainability of the building and the daycare,” Wiens stated. “Obviously, daycares aren’t very profitable, so we just want to make sure we have enough fundraising completed, donations, grants and the support from a community to continue in the future.”
“We are hoping that we can remodel an additional room in the building that will help us have room for school-aged children this summer,” Wiens said.
Hansen stated the daycare is hoping to implement fun activities to get the wider community involved with the daycare.
“One thing that we’re hoping to start would be doing a monthly business highlight where we would ask a business to come in one day a month,” Hansen said. “They can bring a treat or they can read a book to the kids, so that they would be getting a little community involvement.”
More information on employment and other matters can be found on the Hampton Daycare Center Facebook page or by emailing  hamptondaycarecenter@gmail.com or by calling (402) 366-9858.
An official ribbon-cutting ceremony is planned, but no date has been set.