City Mission dedicates new family child care center
Sally’s Sanctuary, the City Mission’s state-of-the-art, 50-bed shelter for homeless women, is set to open in October.
But the doors of the Scott and Diane Heeter Family Childcare Center – a bright and vibrant space for children whose mothers are experiencing homelessness – swung wide open on Tuesday in Washington.
The City Mission hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony to dedicate the new child care center, which includes the Mary Johns Guthrie Infant and Toddler Room and a Matt’s Maker Space, a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) space that promotes hands-on learning.
“We wanted to make sure we made a shelter space that was safe and bright and warm, and that it was flexible for all children, from newborns to children coming in after school,” said Leah Dietrich, City Mission’s Director of Residential Programs. “One of the beautiful things about City Mission is that we get the opportunity every day to give people a fresh start and a chance to overcome different barriers and obstacles. In being able to create a space like this, we are tremendously blessed with the opportunity to invite children who may come from situations of abuse or sadness or homelessness to be able to come here and forget all of that, and to just create and to grow together.”
The child care center, located on the first floor of the $8.4 million Sally’s Sanctuary, will provide full-time child care to help mothers focus on seeking jobs, attending classes or counseling, recovery, or finding housing.
Women with children have been a fast-growing segment of the homeless population.
Sally’s Sanctuary, named after Dr. Sally Mounts, the mission’s retired chief development officer, is designed to meet the growing needs of homeless women across the region.
Children of homeless mothers often experience higher levels of stress and anxiety due to the loss of security and routine, and the child care center aims to create a stable environment.
“Often, these children have been through more in a few years than people go through in a lifetime, and our greatest hope is that this gives them the chance to be children, in a space that’s just for them. For me, that’s such a win,” said Dietrich.
Noelle Conover, the co-founder of Matt’s Maker Space who started the nonprofit after her son, Matt, died from non-Hodgkins lymphoma in 2002 at the age of 12, has long supported the goals of City Mission and was excited to open a space in the new child care center.
The opening of Matt’s Maker Space at the center, which was sponsored by EQT, marks its 58th location.
During the ribbon cutting ceremony, Conover described how Matt’s Maker Space has helped her family cope with the grief of losing Matt, who loved LEGOs but never built what was on the box, opting instead to build unique creations.
When their youngest child graduated from Mt. Lebanon High School, she asked the principal what gift she could donate to the elementary school, which had rallied around the Conover family during Matt’s cancer battle.
“He said, ‘Have you ever heard of Maker Space?'” recalled Conover. “That started us on our journey.”
Matt’s Maker Space partnered with the Children’s Museum, which designs the spaces located in schools, hospitals and mental health facilities throughout the region. Conover said more than 10,000 students and 500 patients have access each day to a Matt’s Maker Space.
It’s Conover’s hope that the children who use the maker space also learn about Matt, and who he was and what he loved to do – and that they become “tinkerers” and builders.
She recalled how the community supported the family after Matt got sick, taking his siblings to practices and events, cooking dinners, and running errands, and Matt’s Maker Space provides the Conovers with an opportunity to pay it forward.
“I’m blown away by what the City Mission does on a daily basis,” said Conover. “What makes me so happy is that children will walk in here who may never have had a chance to create with anything like this, and when they leave, they’ll have had this experience.”