(submitted photo/Sarah Nixon)

By Cam Lee

Daycare in Good Care

BHP donates $20,000 to daycare

Sep 25, 2019 | 5:00 PM

The LeRoy Daycare Project has received a financial boost from BHP.

The potash company has given LeRoy Daycare $20,000 for renovations to the facility.

“The donation we received is huge,” LeRoy Daycare president Kim Block said. “It helped us with the renovation costs, and definitely helped us get out of raising money quicker, so we really appreciate it.”

Block told northeastNOW the renovations are now complete and the daycare is open.

“LeRoy did not have a daycare before, so we took over six rooms of the Evergreen, which is a seniors facility,” explained Block. “The rooms were being unused, so we found it was a good opportunity to add a daycare and to help the town out and to help the parents out that were in need.”

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Child care has been a huge headache in the area, according to Block, and she said parents travel a lot for work so a daycare in the community is a huge plus.

The LeRoy Daycare is also unique in that it is the only rural multi-generational facility in the province, with the four others in Saskatchewan in Regina and Saskatoon.

Block said the daycare is a pilot project.

“[We’re] hoping that it will help other small communities be able to do this on their own and see that there is a need and there are feasible ways to do it,” Block said. “We’re really happy with how it turned out, and we’re really thankful for BHP and the donation they gave to us.”

In a news release, BHP said “The addition of this important amenity is important to the families of LeRoy and, as BHP continues to develop its Jansen Potash Project, about 140 kilometres east of the city of Saskatoon, the company hopes facilities such as these will also help attract the required workforce to the local area during potential mining operations at Jansen.”

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cam.lee@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @camlee1974