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Clear skies. Low 54F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph.
Balloons and the American flag adorn the main entrance to the Kenesaw United Child Care Center Saturday, Oct. 8, 2022, during grand opening festivities. The child care center is located in the former Kenesaw United Methodist Church building.
Audience members head up the steps of the Kenesaw United Child Care Center Saturday, Oct. 8, 2022, to tour the building following an outdoor grand opening program. The child care center is located in the former Kenesaw United Methodist Church building.
Megan Krous, executive director of the Kenesaw United Child Care Coalition, speaks Saturday, Oct. 8, 2022, during a grand opening ceremony for the child care center located in the former Kenesaw United Methodist Church.
The Rev. Kathy Uldrich, last pastor of the Kenesaw United Methodist Church and a member of the Kenesaw United Child Care Coalition board of directors, speaks Saturday, Oct. 8, 2022, during a grand opening ceremony for the new child care center located in the former church building.
Community members, including many children, stand in Doane Avenue in Kenesaw Saturday, Oct. 8, 2022, to witness the grand opening of the new Kenesaw United Child Care Center.
A stained glass window in the west wall of the former Kenesaw United Methodist Church sanctuary portrays sheep. The former church building now houses the Kenesaw United Child Care Center.
A sign advertising the new Kenesaw United Child Care Center is planted in the ground outside the main entrance to the child care center, which is located in the old Kenesaw United Methodist Church.
Angela Keiser (left), president of the Kenesaw United Child Care Coalition board of directors, introduces Megan Krous, the coalition’s executive director, during a grand opening ceremony for the new child care center in the former Kenesaw United Methodist Church.
Balloons and the American flag adorn the main entrance to the Kenesaw United Child Care Center Saturday, Oct. 8, 2022, during grand opening festivities. The child care center is located in the former Kenesaw United Methodist Church building.
Megan Krous, executive director of the Kenesaw United Child Care Coalition, speaks Saturday, Oct. 8, 2022, during a grand opening ceremony for the child care center located in the former Kenesaw United Methodist Church.
Community members, including many children, stand in Doane Avenue in Kenesaw Saturday, Oct. 8, 2022, to witness the grand opening of the new Kenesaw United Child Care Center.
The Rev. Kathy Uldrich, last pastor of the Kenesaw United Methodist Church and a member of the Kenesaw United Child Care Coalition board of directors, speaks Saturday, Oct. 8, 2022, during a grand opening ceremony for the new child care center located in the former church building.
“Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.” — John 12:24
KENESAW — Saturday brought talk of beginnings and endings, laughter and a few tears as the Kenesaw community celebrated a continuing legacy of good works on long-holy ground.
Around 60 people gathered for a midmorning outdoor program consecrating the former Kenesaw United Methodist Church building for its new purpose as a child care center serving families with children ages 6 weeks through 12 years. Children in attendance cut a ribbon to mark the occasion.
Lacy Construction of Grand Island finished work around Sept. 1 on Phase 2 of the project to repurpose the former church building, which was donated to the Kenesaw United Child Care Coalition by the congregation after it decided to disband in 2020. CMBA Architects of Grand Island designed the project.
The congregation’s gift included the church building and the land it stands on, plus furnishings, other items, and $110,000 cash as the congregation closed out its accounts in consultation with the United Methodist denomination’s Great Plains Annual Conference.
“The generosity of their gift to our group cannot be put into words,” said Angela Keiser, KUCCC board president. “ … Their love of God was bigger than a building. They saw a need and saw how their resources could be used to help our community.”
The Rev. Kathy Uldrich offers the invocation at the grand opening of the Kenesaw United Child Care Center Saturday, Oct. 8, 2022.
The child care coalition began serving young children on the premises a year ago but had to rent space at the Kenesaw Public School for after-school programming until completion of Phase 2, which involved turning the former church sanctuary into two large rooms.
Now, the child care center already is bumping up against its capacity of 50-60 children, with 55 enrolled, Keiser said. The employee roster includes 10 full-time teachers and six support staff members under the leadership of Executive Director Megan Krous.
The Rev. Kathy Uldrich, who lives in Juniata, was the last minister to serve the Kenesaw UMC in her role as pastor of the United Methodist Church’s West Adams County Parish. She still serves the Juniata UMC and Grace UMC in Holstein and is a member of the Kenesaw United Child Care Coalition board of directors.
Uldrich gave the invocation at Saturday’s program, pronounced words of consecration before the children cut a ceremonial ribbon, and offered brief remarks.
Children help cut a ceremonial ribbon for the new Kenesaw United Child Care Center in Kenesaw Saturday, Oct. 8, 2022.
While closing a church never is easy, she said, the small congregation remaining in Kenesaw in 2020 saw the value of helping the town and its young families.
“It was an opportunity where we could hold together the joys and sorrows of God’s people, and it was a time when we trusted in the promise of God that that promise is not limited to the four walls of our churches, “Uldrich said.
“ … With the implementation of the Kenesaw United Child Care Coalition, we were given the opportunity to see the legacy of this church live on in this community, and to see the ministry continue — just in a different form. That, my friends, is indeed what we are celebrating today, and we are so glad that you are part of that.”
Audience members head up the steps of the Kenesaw United Child Care Center Saturday, Oct. 8, 2022, to tour the building following an outdoor grand opening program. The child care center is located in the former Kenesaw United Methodist Church building.
Altogether, the coalition has raised $750,000 for the construction project and another $500,000 to cover start-up costs and help with operating expenses, Keiser said.
Local residents Gary and Betty Bittfield served as the fundraising campaign chair couple.
Keiser gave special recognition to the Sherwood Foundation and the William and Ruth Scott Family Foundation, both of Omaha, for providing a combined $600,000 of the total.
“They took a great interest in our community, and they care deeply about our children,” she said.
She also thanked the Communities for Kids organization in Adams County, which is affiliated with the United Way of South Central Nebraska, for its guidance and support in getting the project off the ground.
Angela Keiser (left), president of the Kenesaw United Child Care Coalition board of directors, introduces Megan Krous, the coalition’s executive director, during a grand opening ceremony for the new child care center in the former Kenesaw United Methodist Church.
She heaped praise on the people of Kenesaw and the surrounding area for their belief in the project and their contributions large and small, including countless hours of volunteer labor.
“I’m often asked if we were met with any resistance to this project, and I can confidently say no,” Keiser said. “Kenesaw, you stepped up in a big way with the generosity of your financial resources so we could open these doors.”
Keiser, who has lived in Kenesaw for 12 years, said the past lack of high-quality child care in town has affected everyone, including working parents, grandparents, business owners and the school.
With limited child care services, a community is less appealing to prospective new residents and workers, she said.
Mostly, though, she said, the lack of services hurt Kenesaw’s children.
“When our youngest and most vulnerable don’t have a safe, stable, nurturing, loving, enriching environment to spend their first few years in, it impacts them for life,” she said.
Two years ago, eight women got together to attack the problem head-on and became the founding board of the child care coalition. They include Keiser; Krous, now the executive director; Cindy Olsen, board secretary; Deb Adams, board treasurer; Taylor Hanson; Morgan Fischer; Carrie Edwards; and Uldrich.
“This was really ‘the dream team,’” Keiser said. “It’s not all that often that you get a group of women together like this and just work like clockwork. It was just a really, really fun, talented group to be with and get this open.”
Krous introduced her staff and explained the child care center’s focus on building trusting relationships with the children and providing a stimulating curriculum.
Because 90% of human brain development occurs before age 5, Krous said, the child care center has an important role in the lives of its young charges.
“These early years are the best opportunity for a child’s brain to develop the connections they need to be healthy, capable and successful adults,” she said. “The connections needed for many higher-level abilities like motivation, self-regulation, problem solving and communication are formed in these early years.”
Keiser said the child care coalition is set up as a nonprofit, and that if fees are going to be kept affordable for local families, fee revenue never will be enough to cover all the costs of sustaining the operation.
That, she said, is why the coalition always will be coming back to the public for additional help.
“We are going to continually be relying on the support of our community to keep our doors open,” Keiser said.
A stained glass window in the west wall of the former Kenesaw United Methodist Church sanctuary portrays sheep. The former church building now houses the Kenesaw United Child Care Center.
The Kenesaw United Methodist congregation would have turned 150 years old in 2022. Its building, the second to serve the congregation, was constructed in 1894.
The church was remodeled in 1951, and a fellowship hall with kitchen was added in 1992.
After Saturday’s program, Uldrich said it was an emotional day for those with ties to the old Kenesaw UMC.
In her remarks to the assembly, she said the building’s new usage is a blessing.
“As Christians, we understand death to be followed by eternal life, and we proclaim that death no longer has the final word,” Uldrich said. “The closure of this building as a worship center did not have the final word here, either. Amen?”
And all the people said: “Amen.”
A sign advertising the new Kenesaw United Child Care Center is planted in the ground outside the main entrance to the child care center, which is located in the old Kenesaw United Methodist Church.
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