by Andru McCracken


Kids at the Valemount Children’s Activity Society will soon add even more kids to the storytime circle. /ANDRU MCCRACKEN

For working parents it’s a blessing. The Columbia Basin Trust is providing $23,595 to the Valemount Children’s Activity Society child care centre for renovations.

The centre is the only licensed child care provider in the area, and has a growing waitlist, according to staff. The renovations will accommodate eight more children full time.

Manager Krista Voth said the waitlist means parents must wait many months to get their children licensed child care, forcing some parents to turn down employment opportunities.

Voth said depending on the needs of the 14 people on the waiting list, the new spaces could meet much of the need in the community, as not everybody plans on using the daycare facility five days a week.

The grant will be used to convert office space to play space. It will also allow new after-school programs.

“Completing this project will reduce our waitlist, provide our current staff with full-time positions and help us meet increasing demand as the community grows,” Voth said, adding they already have enough people to staff it.

“We really want to meet the community’s needs as best we can,” she said. “We’re pretty excited.”