Holy Family Early Learning Center to close doors for final time this week

By RENEE WEBB, Globe editor
(Email Renee)

Holy Family Early Learning Center in Sioux City held its final ceremony on May 26. After opening in 1999, the preschool and daycare will close its doors for good on June 3. The center used the ground floor of the former Holy Family School - St. Boniface Center building on the grounds of St. Boniface Church.

According to Father Mike Erpelding, co-pastor of St. Boniface Parish, the decision to close was made mainly due to the lack of numbers the center was serving.

"The center was not serving very many students from our parish and our parish had to pay the bills," he noted. "We were not being subsidized by any other organization or parish." When it opened six years ago, the center also wanted to serve families of the parish and people in the neighborhood, but it turns out that many in the area near the church use family and friends for daycare needs.

Father Erpelding pointed out that the directors of the center were working as volunteers on projects to raise money for the preschool.

"It was as if they were working for free to try to earn enough money to keep this program viable," he said. One of the biggest undertakings of the preschool was manning a food stand at the Tyson Event Center. "That is unfair to our workers to have to go and do that."

He stressed the fact that the center did not close due to a lack of quality.

"It was a highly qualified program with highly qualified employees that did a marvelous job teaching the kids," said Father Erpelding. "They were not the problem. The problem was population."

Although the program had excellent employees and an excellent facility, he said the number of students and therefore money raised was not sufficient to meet expenses.

At the awards ceremony on May 26, Stacy Boeve, the director of the learning center, extended appreciation to the parents for "sharing your children with us during their most precious years."

After two years with the center, she expressed sadness at the closure.

"It's been a great experience for me," said Boeve, who noted she has secured another job and will share the experience she acquired at Holy Family Learning Center in her new position.

Colleen Homan, assistant director, mentioned that one student gave her a book containing thoughts for teachers.

"As I was flipping through it, I came across the phrase 'When God closes a door, he opens a window.' Sometimes we focus too much on that closed door and not on the window. That is what I am trying to focus on," acknowledged Homan. "Things change. We move on. It's time for the preschoolers to move on and time for all of us to move on."

Many parents and grandparents expressed appreciation to her for the religious component of the preschool. Religion was part of the actual curriculum for the young students. They used a program called Seeds that centered on a flyer similar to a Weekly Reader. The message contained in Seeds flowed from the previous Sunday's Gospel reading.

The preschoolers would pray Angel of God in the morning and would recite the prayer before meals at lunch and snack time.

Even the majority of the songs that the children sang at the final ceremony were Christian-based such as J-E-S-U-S to the tune of B-I-N-G-O and God Gave Me Hands. After the graduation and awards ceremony, the preschoolers and families enjoyed refreshments.

"It's always important to celebrate the end of something and it will be a chance for a new beginning for these children, too," noted Father Erpelding. "Some will go into kindergarten next year and others will continue their education in another facility."

Presently, St. Boniface is investigating options such as rental of the former school building. If someone is interested in renting the facility, they can contact the parish office.

Home