GASPORT — Treehouse at Hartland Bible Church is filling a need created when the Royalton Hartland school district lost its funding for a before- and after-school program.
A grant-funded program was operated at Royalton Hartland Elementary School during the Covid pandemic, but when the grant ran out last spring, the district announced that the program would not continue in the 2024-2025 school year.
“You could see immediately the frustration for parents of not having a place for their kids, and the financial burden it would be,” said Jon Goodwin, pastor of Hartland Bible Church. “As we are located next to the school, we had done programs with them in the past. The biggest hurdle now would be funding. Our challenge was we would have to pay staff, but we got creative. We started a School Fund and applied for grants and got some gifts from local businessmen and individuals who wanted to help provide a safe place for kids. And they wanted it to be free of charge.”
It took nine months to put all the pieces together to meet all the standards for a licensed day care facility and get certified by the state, Goodwin said. They had hoped to be up and running when school started in September, but they had to do updates to their facility.
Treehouse opened Jan. 13 at the church, 8110 West Ave.
Treehouse accepts students in kindergarten through fourth grade. Seven families have registered their children, and there is room for more, Goodwin said. Students can be registered online at https://www.hartlandbible.org/treehouse/.
Two staff members are running the program.
Debi Smith of Medina, a part-time employee of the church for 6-1/2 years, is the director. She has been involved in youth ministry at the church, and used to worked in after-school childcare in Canandaigua.
Sue Cheasty of Gasport is a church member who was previously employed full time at the school district bus garage.
As a licensed day care facility, Treehouse is required to have one adult for every 10 children and will hire more people as registration picks up.
Doors open at 7 a.m. and the bus picks up children up at 8:50 a.m. Afternoon drop-offs are at 3:30 p.m. Treehouse closes at 5:30 p.m.
Children receive a snack, play games, draw and color, have gym time, free play time and brief Bible time.
“The church does not make any money from the program, but we realized there was a need for it,” Goodwin said. “We desire to keep the money in the pockets of these parents, understanding that times are tight. Our program is 100% scholarship-based, which means we are able to offer free childcare to parents. We also wanted to create a safe place for children to be, as there is a deficiency in childcare in our area.”
Goodwin emphasized that all money for Treehouse is kept in a separate account. The church will continue to pursue grants and accept any donations.
“We are able to be generous because the community has been generous to us,” he said.