SIDNEY — Wilma Valentine Childcare is a non-profit childcare center that provides opportunity for children in preschool and ages 3-5 with and without disabilities to learn together. Open weekdays from 5:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and with a low staff-to-child ratio, they can support the work schedule of a parent who has a child with special needs because of a disability or behavior issue.
Wilma Valentine Childcare is participating in the Community Foundation of Shelby County Match Day and plans to use gifts to help offset revenue losses. With Pandemic Childcare Center status, they kept welcoming children and employing their staff by following protocols of cleaning, sanitizing, mask wearing, social distancing and separating groups to avoid spreading germs.
“We stayed open the entire year and were licensed as a pandemic child care, but could only serve 9 children in a group, so our revenue dropped significantly,” said executive director Nancy Stiefel. “We cannot hold our quarter auction fundraiser and are serving 31 children, instead of the usual 40. We need Match Day gifts to supplement operating expenses.”
To support the Wilma Valentine Childcare on Match Day, gifts must be made payable to the Community Foundation of Shelby County with: Match/WVC noted on the memo or in an accompanying note or form. Details and forms are available at the Community Foundation website at commfoun.com and at Wilma Valentine Childcare at 1200 S. Children’s Home Rd., Sidney.
The Community Foundation of Shelby County Match Day offers 18 local charities the chance for a match of up to $5,000. Gifts must be received on or before Giving Tuesday, Dec. 1, to be eligible for the matching money. Credit card gifts may be made on Dec. 1 only on the Community Foundation site.
Match Day participating organizations have a 501(c)(3) tax status and an organization fund within the Community Foundation of Shelby County with an asset balance exceeding the Foundation’s fund minimum. Gifts received will not be placed into an organization’s fund, but instead returned to the organization and put to work in the community.
