Panora Telco Receives Ripple Effect Grant for Daycare and Preschool
Aureon has announced Little Panther Daycare and Preschool located in Panora, IA as the recipient of a $5,000 Ripple Effect grant for architectural drawings and engineering specifications in relation to their planned expansion project.
Little Panther Daycare & Preschool has been operating independently for seventeen years and serves five area communities. The local daycare currently provides care to 53 children and has had a waiting list for over three years for all rooms within the daycare. As area in-home childcare providers have closed, additional need for care at the center has increased. In order to meet this demand the daycare plans to build an addition onto the existing building in order to accommodate more children.
In order for the daycare to move forward with an expansion of the facility they must first obtain approvals from the Department of Human Services and State Fire Marshall’s office, which requires architectural drawings and engineering specifications to be approved by both State offices. Engineering work will be conducted by Tometich Engineering and Architectural drawings will be completed by Rains Architecture.
The Ripple Effect grant application was made to Aureon on behalf of Little Panther Daycare and Preschool by Panora Telco, one of the city’s providers of internet, cable and phone services. In addition to the $5,000 Ripple Effect grant from the Iowa Area Development Group and Aureon, Panora Telco will provide a matching grant of $5,000 for a total of $10,000 in grant funding for the related pre-construction services. A check presentation will be made at Little Panther Daycare on August 1st, 2020.
“Little Panther Daycare & Preschool’s mission is to provide high quality, safe and affordable childcare in a loving and nurturing environment. We have been doing that for the past seventeen years and we look forward to continuing that into the future. In order to continue to meet the needs of our community and to stay true to our mission we feel that putting an addition on our existing building will help us satisfy both the need and our mission. We know this project will come at a cost, but we also know it will be worth it, as we’ll be able to provide care for more families in our community for years to come. We are so thankful for Panora Telco for matching the Ripple Effect Grant presented by Aureon to help us jump start our project. The support from our community never ceases to amaze us, and we are so happy that so many families continue to trust Little Panther Daycare & Preschool to look after and care for their kids”, said Emily Albers, Board President of LPDP.
“The Ripple Effect grant in addition to Panora Communication Cooperative’s matching grant will allow Little Panther Daycare and Preschool to move forward with the building addition review. This review will allow the Little Panther board of directors to make a wise and educated decision pertaining to the significant building addition that is needed to continue to meeting the demands the community has for daycare. Daycare is a critical need in rural communities, and Panora is no different. We look forward to seeing the daycare grow and increase it’s capacity to serve families in our area”, said GM Andrew Randol, of Panora Telco.