Last week, ILDOCC travelled to Edwardsville to meet with one of our wonderful members, Jennie Fuller. Jennie owns two programs in the Edwardsville area, which is located in southern Illinois only 30 miles from St. Louis. She has been working in our industry for a long time, has such a passion for early childhood, and believes in the work ILDOCC is doing.
A few months ago, Jennie reached out to Dezaray to tour her program and meet with the local rotary club that she has been a member of for years. Yes, this rotary club is designed for busy professionals to meet weekly for a one-hour lunch, but they’re really there to talk and plan how they can provide acts of service to their community in their free time.
We jumped at the opportunity to participate in this meeting, and we wanted to take some time this week to share with you how it went!
During the meeting, David (our ILDOCC advisor in Springfield) and Dezaray shared ILDOCC’s mission and all that we have accomplished over the last few years. We also shared with them the major struggles the childcare industry is currently facing and our plans to resolve those issues for you! The presentation provided these community leaders a window into the childcare world that you and I work in every day and the impact the staffing crisis has had across the state. We also had the opportunity to implore the companies they work for to donate to our cause and so we can continue this work for you!
After the presentation, there were many questions. It was so heartening to see that rotary club members cared what you and I are going through in childcare and the work ILDOCC was doing! They were really diving deep into the problems we face and the impact this has on other industries overall.
We want to thank Jennie for inviting us out to her beautiful program and helping ILDOCC share with these business leaders about the important work ILDOCC is doing.
If you are or know a member of an organization like this in your community and would like ILDOCC to come speak at a meeting, please reach out to Dezaray. As childcare providers, we know the struggle we face, but others don’t. It’s high time we start sharing that information with others. The more voices we have in this fight, the more we will be heard!