WILKES-BARRE, LUZERNE COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — We live in a time when many more and more working parents need to place their infant and pre-school aged children in child care.
Eyewitness News Reporter Mark Hiller shows us how a local child care site that already exists addressed that growing need Wednesday afternoon. More than 300 pre-school aged children a day attend Wyoming Valley CYC Childcare — a number that’s grown by nearly 100 in the past year.
“There’s a lot of families that are in need of looking for child care,” said Iris Ferrer whose family is among them.
After the CYC teacher moved to Wilkes-Barre a few years ago, her two young grandchildren needed looking after while their parents worked.
“They came here when they were like one and the other one was like two and they have been here ever since.”
But existing space reached capacity which is why Wyoming Valley CYC cut the ribbon on its new Annex Child Care Center on Wednesday.
“Oh, we’re thrilled. We’ve been working on this project for months now,” said Wyoming Valley CYC Executive Director Mark Soprano
Besides a pre-school classroom, the new facility includes two infant rooms. The expansion will allow the number of infants the CYC cares for to increase from about a dozen a day to nearly two dozen.
Mr. Soprano said, “It’s going to also open some space in our existing building. Our current enrollment is over 300 children. And this is going to add 40 to 50 more children on top of that.”
One of the new amenities is a kitchen area and even though the CYC already has a kitchen, consider this. The new kitchen space is in close proximity to the pre-school room and the infant room and when you’re talking about feeding hundreds of kids a day convenience is critical. A new era for an organization in its 20th year of providing child care to the Wyoming Valley.
“There’s so much we’re going to do in this little space that will benefit so many children,” said Mr. Soprano.
The Wyoming Valley CYC Annex Child Care Center will also include a laundry room. And in the spring, an outdoor courtyard with picnic tables, play space and greenery is expected to be added.
You can learn about enrolling a child by stopping at Wyoming Valley CYC at 36 S. Washington Street in Wilkes-Barre or by calling the organization at 570-823-6121.