Kids Place Childcare Champions Gets Major Boost With $207,000 Donation

The Kids Place Childcare Champions fundraising effort received a major boost last week – a check for $207,000 from Jim Hughes Real Estate.

The funds were raised from the sale of a newly-renovated house in Glenwood that was donated to the Glenwood Community School District by Jim Hughes Real Estate.

Grace Newman, a spokesperson for Kids Place Childcare Champions, said the donation will go a long way in helping the committee raise the funds needed to match a $500,000 grant from the Lakin Community Foundation and secure the long-term future of the childcare facility that has served the needs of the Glenwood community for four decades.

“We could not have succeeded in these efforts without the Hughes family’s generosity,” said Newman. “Their kindness is deeply appreciated by not only the committee, but also the current and future families in the Glenwood community. This is what small towns are all about, people supporting and helping one another.”

Newman said she and her husband are both Glenwood natives and want to raise their family in the community, but having a safe and reliable childcare option is essential.

“Family planning is a scary thing when you are wanting and needing to also have a career; therefore having to rely on other people to watch and care for your children during the day. We needed to find somewhere that provided a safe and nurturing environment Monday-Friday early in the morning and into the evening,” she said. “My son started at Kids Place when he was 9 months old and he immediately started to thrive. Not only that, but I was able to drop him off and have a feeling of peace of mind knowing that he was taken care of and safe.”

The Kids Place Childcare Champions committee was formed in 2024 after the Glenwood Board Of Education removed funding for the program from a $5 million facilities/infrastructure revenue bond, putting the future of the childcare center in doubt.

“As a mother, this is very scary stuff to hear when you have one kid in the program and pregnant with our second,” Newman said. “This is when and why the committee was formed in order to save the center.”

Newman said her family is grateful for the support the childcare center is receiving from Jim Hughes Real Estate and other businesses and supporters in the community.

“My family is extremely thankful for their generosity,” she said. “In order for small communities to not only survive, but thrive, it takes families/businesses in the communities like the Hughes’ to help make that happen. Generosity is contagious and my wish is that other families and businesses in the community see things like this happening and want to do their part in supporting committees like ours.”

Jim Hughes said he and his family understand and appreciate the importance of childcare and are proud to support Kids Place Champions’ fundraising effort.

“It’s something everyone in our family agreed to. It’s something that’s very important to us,” he said. “You have to have a place for the kids because of the workforce and the way things operate today. It’s just a big part of the community and something that’s really needed.”Kids Place is being housed temporarily at Northeast Elementary School this summer while its permanent home in the 103 Central Building on the campus of the former Glenwood Resource Center is being updated and renovated.

In January, the GCSD was awarded a $1.4 million Child Care Business Incentive grant from the state of Iowa for renovations to the 103 Central building. Then, in the spring, the district signed a 25-year lease – at the cost of $1 per year – with the Glenwood Redevelopment Corporation to remain in the 103 Central building, which will house the daycare facility along with the school district’s central office, THRIVE and APEX programs.

“Our (childcare center) official move in date is the weekend of August 16th, the first day in our newly renovated space will be August 18th,” Newman said. “The center will be called the Lakin Foundation Child Development Center.”