CFNRV Supports the Work of Valley Interfaith Child Care

More than 75 families are ready to take advantage of the Valley Interfaith Child Care Center in Christiansburg. Although waiting lists are common for good childcare there is a difference here. The parents of VICCC’s children are members of the working poor. They are employed, but their wages are not enough to pay for quality child care. That is where VICCC steps in to fill the gap.

VICCC serves children birth to three and shares the Church Street site with Head Start - a federally funded preschool program for low-income children. Katy St. Marie, VICCC’s executive director, has her office at the child care center. Although she spends plenty of time poring over work at her desk her heart is with the kids in the next room. It is not unusual to see St. Marie on the floor reading a book to a child or cuddling a baby in the center’s infant room. She obviously loves this work.

The Community Foundation supports the child care center with grants and expertise. An anonymous donor also set up an endowed fund at the Community Foundation to provide a permanent funding source for VICCC. And, as St. Marie points out, the Community Foundation has offered guidance in the form of an ongoing non-profit development group. “When we got a grant it was not just the money…it was a vote of confidence,” St. Marie said. “We are about community, so it was just wonderful to have the Community Foundation weigh in.”

As VICCC reaches the first year anniversary of its center’s operation, it is looking forward to opening a second childcare center in Blacksburg. The goal is to open additional centers Radford, Shawsville and Pulaski by 2008. “We think we will make an exponential difference in the community because of the love we give these children,” St. Marie said.

And, the children get plenty of love during their time at VICCC, which can be as long as 6 a.m. until 6 p.m. each weekday. The staff offers the children art, rhythm and movement, elementary science and loads of reading aided by volunteers. In partnership with the Renaissance Music Academy of Virginia, and supported by a grant from the Community Foundation, VICCC will offer a program of classical music education early next year.

St. Marie admits that her work can be challenging because there can be so much need in the lives that VICCC touch. She remembers one little girl who came to VICCC seemingly without words, drawn into herself. Her interaction with books included tearing out pages and throwing them. After a couple of weeks she was talking and her mother told the staff, “I don’t know what you are doing here, but this is a different child.” The little girl had spent her weekend sitting and looking at books.

“I think the loving and teaching is all one piece,” St. Marie said.

To learn more about VICCC visit its web site at www.valleyinterfaithchildcarecenter.com.