Tiffin-Seneca Child Care Center
As I entered Trinity United Church from the parking lot, I could hear the happy sounds of children playing and impatient crying of a baby being changed. It was late afternoon so parents were coaxing their children to go to the car.
The day care center is a relatively new mission in the long history of Trinity United Church of Christ. For three years an ecumenical group discussed the practicality and desirability of childcare that would have trained, quality workers and still meet the needs of families on low incomes.
Finally in 1971, Tiffin-Seneca Child Care Center was opened. Their hours were 7:00am to 6:00pm five days a week. Care was available for children ages 2 ½ to 6 years old. Mrs. Benjamin Berry, Mrs. Harry Coppus, Jr., Mrs. Leslie Fishel, Jr., Mrs. Floyd Fitch, Mrs. John Groce, Mrs. David Harkins, Mrs. Richard Hostetler, Mrs. Betty Koerper, Mrs. Donald Shoub and Mrs Robert Traunero were members of the planning board. Others who served on the board in the early days were Miss Nancy Leitch, Mrs. Lynn Troxel and Mrs. James Wolff. They applied for incorporation as a non-profit, tax-exempt organization. They did not seek government aid.
A sliding scale was part of their plans from the beginning. Single mothers and working parents paid a percentage of their income. Other parents paid the full cost of day care. The Tiffin-Seneca Child Care Center paid Trinity UCC a small donation for the use of fellowship hall during the week. Private donations, fund-raisers and volunteers helped make this arrangement work. Lanex Brink was the first director. Tracy Buknatski, assistant director and head teacher said, ‘’The community by providing good day care service helps keep families off welfare by allowing single parents to work.’’
Lois Traunero kept finding in her work as truant officer that older children were being kept home from school to take care of their younger brothers and sisters.
In the beginning, the highest amount any family paid for each child was three dollars a day. Volunteers, among them Ruth Alice Steele, worked three or four hours a day. For five years, Barb Fishel, wife of the president of Heidelberg College, bought groceries for the center each week. Some food commodities were available from the U. S. Department of Agriculture.
The Center was small in the beginning. There were around 14 children. In 1978 as the numbers increased, the board requested funds from the United Way. A fund-raiser was held at McDonalds. The restaurant gave the center 25 cents for every dollar that was spent during a specified time. Other organizations contributed. Heidelberg students staged a Walt Disney Film Festival for the benefit of the child care center. Welcome Wagon gave a benefit.
Susan Payne served as president and Daryl Gordon was on the board in 1979. Jean Brown, later Timblin, served as director for many years. Jane Schwochow, later Frederick, was a teacher for many years.
Karen Gillmor toured the center when she was a state senator. Around that time, the Tiffin-Seneca Child Care center celebrated 25 years in operation. The center had an average daily attendance of 32. Jean Trimblin said,
’’The center focuses on learning centers where children can move from area to another, participating in hands-on activities such as examining pumpkins or building with Legos.’’ Her goal: ‘’We want children to be able to think. We can teach by just exposing them to a lot of activities.’’
In June 1998, a special area on the first floor of Trinity United Christ was designated for the loving care of infants. The back portion of the room is lined with 10 wooden cribs, complete with mobiles, for the infants to rest in. The remainder of the room is covered with soft blue carpeting for the infants to crawl and explore on.
By this time two out of three calls were for infant care. Jean Trimlin said, ‘’I had one mother who started crying saying, ‘I don’t know what to do. Nobody takes infants.’ ‘’ In 1998 the center cared for 15 preschoolers, 10 toddlers and 10 infants.
Jean said, ‘’ I prefer in my heart that babies be at home with their mother, but it doesn’t matter if that’s how I feel or not- it can’t happen today. If they have to be someplace, they should be in the very best place they can and I’m trying really hard to make that place here.’’
Through the years, the center has taken pictures showing the children enjoying sledding on the small hill in the fenced-in playground, raking leaves, getting buried up to their neck in leaves, having a watermelon spitting contest and climbing on the equipment. They enjoy being pushed around the neighborhood in the center’s Bye Bye Buggy which holds six children.
In the last five years the Department of Jobs and Family Services has started sending children of their clients to the child care center. A third floor classroom provides Head Start children with a space for their program.
The current director is Tracy Buknatski Innis and Michelle Keefe is the head teacher. In addition, DiAnna Aller, Diane Ward, Robin Hull, Patricia Byrnes, Donita Smith, Leslie Vanover, Yvonne Yearkle, and Staphanie Rutherford are full time staff and Michelle Boehler, Tamie Weber and Seth Ennis are part time staff. Don Loving is director of the board. There are openings for some children in the toddler and pre-school programs. There is a waiting list for infants.
This article was written using notes from an interview with Tracy Innis and from newspaper clippings lovingly preserved in a scrapbook.
– Mary