At this holiday season, we at the SDC are counting our blessings. We have a capable new director and a caring staff. Our enrollment is near capacity. We are one of two daycare centers in the Eastern Panhandle selected to offer the new state-mandated pre-K program, giving a solid educational start to 18 four-year-olds. A grant from the Mardi Gras Fund is supporting arts-enrichment programs for our children. The new Ruth D. Brown Infant and Toddler Wing is functioning beautifully, and we are giving the interior of our original building a much-needed facelift, with the help of many loving hands and hearts, and a lot of plain old-fashioned elbow grease.

Now we are focusing on the Center's outdoor space: new landscaping, a new parking lot, a garden and, perhaps most important of all, a new playground - one that will engage and excite children's minds while they are exercising their muscles. We envision it as four distinct play areas, one for each of the age groups we serve. As you can imagine, this is a huge, multifaceted project. State and county funding has helped us with the hardscape. A recent grant from the Corporation of Shepherdstown will be used for fencing. Pete Spaulding, longtime friend of the SDC, has been an invaluable resource. But every project has its real "Santa Claus," and ours is landscape architect Eric Sundback, who designed the space, gave us thousands of dollars worth of trees and planted them without charge.

However, there is much more to do. And so, with the holidays approaching, we are asking you to help us put some very special presents for SDC children under the trees Eric has planted - presents that will make their eyes sparkle, and their hearts sing. Our holiday wish list includes everything from riding toys, sand boxes and slides for our tiniest tots, to sturdy tricycles for the trike path Eric has just installed, sand diggers, an art wall, a bendy tube for the two- through five-year-old area, and most spectacular of all, two large climbers for our older children, where they can climb, swing, stretch and play to their hearts' content. We're hoping you can help us make our wishes come true!

For nearly 35 years, we've served our community as the area's only nonprofit daycare with a sliding-fee scale for tuition. For all of those years, you have supported us when we've asked. Much of our progress is due to you. Together we've built the SDC into the thriving Center it is today - an institution we can all be proud of, and, just as important, an institution our community can't do without. Because, for many in Shepherdstown and the surrounding area, the SDC means opportunity. By making affordable childcare available to those who need it most, we provide opportunities for parents in the community to work or attend school, opportunities for infants to be cared for in a loving environment, and opportunities for children of every age to grow and learn.

This appeal is your opportunity to help us! Please open your hearts and make this season a joyous one for SDC children.

With many thanks, and warmest and best wishes for the holidays from the children, staff and board members of the Shepherdstown Day Care.

Sincerely,

Lynn Wilson
President of the Board