Chemung Co. Child Care Council providing supplies for programs
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HORSEHEADS, N.Y. (WENY) -- The Chemung County Child Care Council has been going above and beyond during this pandemic to not only continue to provide services, but also supplies.
The non-profit resource and referral agency is adapting to these changing times.
While many facilities have been forced to shut down during the coronavirus pandemic, the majority of the child care programs in the Southern Tier have remained open. These are often critical for working families, especially if parents are still required to work in essential job roles.
"I reached out to our local funding agencies who provide ongoing funding to us for programming and asked if I could divert some of those funds to purchase bulk supplies for child care programs, and so we did that," says Executive Director Ruth Harvey.
The Child Care Council also applied for and received a UNITY grant. These funds will help both center-based and family based child care programs access essential food items, which have been limited in quantity at a number of stores.
"That program we hope to get implemented next week and it's not going to take care of all of their needs but it will certainly help with basic essentials like milk, eggs, butter, bread, canned fruit, canned vegetables and we're actually partnering with Jubilee Foods for that program," Harvey explains.
New York State also started a CARES program with money from the federal CARES Act. Once a contract is finalized with the Chemung County Child Care Council, the funds will help to provide supplies such as wipes, diapers, baby food and more.
Hand sanitizer was also made available through the state, which the Child Care Council was able to area distribute.
"They're all serving anywhere from 1 to 40 kids so when you're looking at all those little hands that need to be washed, and they have to sanitize on a regular basis, especially in rooms where there's infants and toddlers who always are putting things in their mouth, and so they're items they use on a regular basis but all of the sudden they became really tough to get," says Harvey.
The Child Care Council is expected to reach out to both center-based and home-based programs this week to find out specific supply needs.
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