Community pitches in to renovate Sharon Day Care


 

SHARON - Sharon Day Care Center is undergoing a facelift, thanks in part to a grant from The Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation's Day Care Initiative, a generous donation from Ed Herrington, of the Herrington's hardware store chain, and money provided by the day care itself.

The grant money covered approximately half of the construction costs, with the other half covered by Herrington's donation and the Sharon Day Care Center.

The money has been used to install a new kitchen and cabinets at the center. Labor was provided by a volunteer workforce of fathers with children who attend the day care. They have been working on the renovation in their off-time, mostly at night and on weekends. It is estimated that they have put in 40 hours already on the project with about another 10 to go. The work should be done in about two weeks.

Rafe Churchill, of the Sharon-based construction company Churchill Brothers, headed up the project and contributed to the installation process along with Pierce Kearney of Pierce Kearney Design & Build, Bob Squeglia of Bob's Roofing and Renovation and Bob Luminati. 

Additional crew support was provided by Scott Stiffler, Darren Winston and Darin Hudson.

"My daughter attends Sharon Day Care Center and really loves this preschool," said Churchill. "When I found out the center was awarded a grant to renovate its kitchen, I offered my building skills as part of the in-kind services needed for the matching grant.  It only took a few quick phone calls to get the other dads involved. They all recognized that we had an opportunity here to get more involved as fathers with our children's school.  We could make physical improvements to the facilities while getting to meet each other and build a stronger community base."

Volunteer Darren Winston said he wanted to continue the tradition of community support of the center.

"I wanted to help with this project because I recognized that other mothers and fathers in the past had obviously lent a hand in getting this program up and running. 

"Now it's time for me to do my bit in keeping the facilities running so that it will be here for the next group of families," said Winston, whose son attends the day care. 

Roslyn Goldfarb and the staff at the center also got in on the act, working after-hours to get the building ready for the renovation.

Help also came from Judy Albright, of Home Potential Interior Redesign, who provided assistance in organizing the layout of the new cabinets. Mike Dignacco served as a consultant in the early stages of construction planning.

"Thanks to the many hours contributed by staff and volunteers, we'll soon have a beautiful, modern kitchen, as well as more space for the children's playtime and for storage of our teaching supplies," said Goldfarb in an e-mail. "We're really thrilled with these improvements and know they would not have been possible without the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation's Day Care Initiative grant. We also must thank Sharon Day Care Board President Jessica Fowler, who was instrumental in launching this project and carrying it through."

 

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