A need then, a need now: Day Nursery of Abilene celebrates 50 years of service

Day Nursery is a bit like the old Dallas Cowboys.

From 1960-88, Tom Landry was the only coach the team ever had.

Day Nursery, in its 50 years, has had two directors.

Bea Ganson served for the first 21 years. In January 1994, Cynthia Pearson took over. She still is there, now at 31 years counting two years as Ganson's assistant.

Not bad for someone who answered a "blind box ad."

"I thought, 'Wow, what have I gotten myself into," Pearson said, laughing reflecting on her start.

50 years in the making

This month, Day Nursery of Abilene will celebrate a milestone anniversary.

It began as a project that addressed a community need even earlier, once had locations at two churches and today has four sites while looking ahead to the city's urgent need for child care.

Day Nursery each weekday serves more than 600 youngsters from birth to age 10. There are 300 on a waiting list, Pearson said.

The need today is as great as ever.

"We are not a day care," she said. "I absolutely despise that word. We say that we don't take of days. We've never taken care of a day in our lives.

"We take care of children."

A celebratory event is planned for March 27, at which former NFL coach and TV analyst Tony Dungy is the guest speaker.

The event will be at the Abilene Convention Center, appropriately enough just across the street from the downtown Day Nursery facility.

The other three sites are on Sherry Lane in northwest Abilene, Vine street in south-central Abilene and the newest, at a former elementary school near the Hardin-Simmons University and Hendrick Medical Center campuses in north Abilene.

Becoming the next Bea

In July 1991, Pearson responded to an ad. She had been working as the personnel and business manager for a research company that had been associated with HSU, her alma mater. When it sold, she was looking for a job.

The ad sought someone to work "as an assistant to an agency director."

"And the agency did something with children," she said.

That was all she had to go on.

"I wanted to do something with children. My degree was in psychology and management," she said. "I responded to the blind box ad and found out it was Day Nursery of Abilene."

She didn't know much about Day Nursery, other than some mothers at Noah project had children there. Pearson was on the board at Noah, which cares for victims of family violence and sexual abuse.

Unknown to Pearson, the Day Nursery board was looking for Ganson's successor. Their director had told them that she would retire in two years. That explains why Pearson went through rigorous interview process.

She was hired in October 1991, and jumped onto a fast-moving train.

She'd find out about Ganson's plans, and that a capital campaign was underway to build a Day Nursery facility - the one at Cedar Street. In addition, term limits were instituted, meaning several longtime board members would be giving way to newcomers. Like Pearson.

"I thought, 'This is pretty scary. What have I gotten myself into?" she said, laughing again. "Oh my word. And I was in my 20s.

"But working with Bea for two years was absolutely wonderful," she said.

Ganson, who turned 90 in February, today lives in Granbury, and Pearson hopes she is able to attend the upcoming gala.

"I told her nothing would make us more happy than having you at the table," Pearson said.

Their office was upstairs at Ash Street. Pearson didn't have an office but shared a corner of Ganson's desk.

At the time, Day Nursery also was at a Hispanic Baptist church on Ambler Avenue and Park Street and at Belmont Baptist Church, on Palm Street, in south-central Abilene.

The small daycare center at Iglesia Bautista Ambler Baptist Church had been started by GLO (God's Little Ones) at First Baptist Church and had been taken over by Day Nursey in 1975. Belmont was added three years later.

"I just sat and listened," Pearson said. "And she started handing me things to do. I learned everything from her. I always tell her that she taught me everything my mother didn't.

"My mother raised me to be a hard-working woman. That's what my mother was. Bea taught me everything about being in the early childhood industry as a leader and about being a nonprofit leader in the community. Everything I've done she taught me.

"And I tell her that. Often."

What Pearson got herself into was three decades of service that has not gone unnoticed.

She has been honored for her work. She was named to the Hall of Leaders at her alma mater, Hardin-Simmons University, in 2019. The Abilene branch of the American Association of University Women in 2018 chose her as a Woman of Outstanding Achievement, and the Kiwanis Club of Greater Abilene gave her it Community Caring Award.

Reinventing the original daycare program for working Black women

Day Nursery actually began in 1933, founded by Jessie Jones, wife of Morgan Jones Sr. as Negro Day Nursery.

It was dedicated to Eva Givens, who was the Jones family's housekeeper.

It was a place where working mothers - primarily Black residents at that time - could leave their children during the day.

"These women did not have a safe place for their children to be," Pearson said.

It would operate until 1969.

The need for child care existed in Abilene even then, as more women joined the workforce. It didn't take long for a second chapter to begin.

Abilenians met with officials of the United Fund - soon to be renamed the United Way - and in 1972, a board of directors for a new child-care program was chosen and a director - Bea Ganson - was hired. She was the executive director for the 10th and 20th anniversaries.

The first location was at 1202 Ash St. A building there was razed and a new structure built to accommodate 25 youngsters. When the Cedar Street project began, the plan was to close Ash Street location.

"That didn't happen," Pearson said. The location faithfully served for years.

In 1982, an anonymous donation allowed the original site to be expanded to handle 160 children.

That came in handy when, 10 years later, a night and weekend program was started there. The opening of two prison units in far north Abilene was a factor. Those working at Abilene State School (now Abilene State Supported Living Center) and at local hospitals needed help.

"Day Nursery has always been very responsive to the needs of working parents, especially single mothers," Pearson said. "(Bea) told me we were going to start this program. . I thought that was very cool."

The program wasn't going to be phased in.

"She told it would be tomorrow night," Pearson said. "I thought, 'Whoa, OK.' And we did."

A mother and grandmother who worked at the state school brought the first youngsters," Pearson recalled.

The nights and weekend program would move to the new Cedar Street location. Overall, it remained in operation for about 14 years.

"It was a challenge because the numbers were up and down and up and down. Ninety-five percent of the children were subsidized so we were losing lots of money," she said. The board decided that Day Nursery need to do what it had done best - be a day nursery.

The 14,200-square-foot Cedar Street facility could take 200 children, and within the first two weeks, enrollment was 193. It was used primarily by downtown works and also by Hendrick Medical Center.

New services were offered, including have a place for nursing mothers to spend time with infants. It was accessible to those with disabilities.

Moving forward at a more accelerated pace

The next step was acquiring an adjoining building on Cedar Street to move administration out of the downtown day care.

Pearson contacted the Dodge Jones Foundation about an opportunity to buy property, and grants administrator Larry Gill asked her to write a proposal for $100,000 in fall 1998. She got her mother, who had grant-writing experience, to read it over Thanksgiving before it was submitted.

Team Pearson did a pretty good with it.

"We ended up getting $200,000," Pearson said. That was enough for purchase and renovation.

Pearson noted the leadership of the late Fred Armbruster (Long Electric) and Ruppert Rangel (Parkhill architects)

The next project was a capital campaign to move the Ambler church location to a new facility.

A vacant 1.2-acre, "long and narrow" property was targeted on Sherry Lane, near Jane Long Elementary School and Mann Middle School.

It had been given to First Presbyterian Church, which did not have a need for it and gave it to the Abilene ISD. The school district did not need it, and offered it to Day Nursery.

"All we had to pay was $2,200 for the environmental study," Pearson said.

Next came $1.3 million in challenge grants.

As a United Way partner, Day Nursery and other organizations could not fund-raise during the yearly capital campaign.

The challenge grant, with a Nov. 1 deadline, was given in early July 1998. The annual campaign would begin in mid-August and go through the end of October.

"So we had just a little over month to get half of the money locally so we could go outside of Abilene to get the other funding," she said.

"We made every single one of those challenge grants," Pearson said.

Sherry Lane was built and opened in October 2000.

Still more to do

The Ash Street facility was renovated, with children there coming to the admin building downtown while that project was done.

Next, night and weekend care was moved into the admin building, primarily because the overlap in hours would be complicated at the Cedar Street location. That continued through 2007, when the night and weekend program closed.

The next capital campaign launched in 2004 with a goal to build a new facility on the south side. The board, Pearson said, wanted Day Nursery to own all of its facilities.

The Belmont church location had moved the summer of 1994 to a former Church of Christ at South 16th and Vine streets, near the former Jefferson Middle School campus. The property was owned by Southern Hills Church of Christ.

Construction on a $1.9 million facility began in 2005 and opened in May 2006. Three preschool classes were added in a 2015 expansion.

The final piece of the current puzzle was acquiring the former College Heights campus, known as the Orange Street Day Nursery. Pearson said street names seemed more descriptive than naming facilities 1, 2, 3 and 4.

That plan began with new Hardin-Simmons President Eric Bruntmyer asking his staff what was needed. Child care came up but HSU was not equipped to add it.

Hendrick had the same need, with then-leader Mike Waters calling Pearson to say employees were in critical condition regarding child care. Soon, Abilene Christian and even Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center were looped in as the need in that part of Abilene was examined.

ACU chose to go another route, Pearson said, and Texas Tech's needs were not great.

Hendrick had purchased the former school just blocks away with neighborhood expansion in mind.

Eventually, $1 million was raised through a group effort in 2018 and renovations were done in 2019 with a plan to open 1-20-2020.

It did, just before COVID-19 struck.

Call it a blessing?

It seems that each Day Nursery project throughout its history has had a helping hand.

"Absolutely," Pearson said. "Most of it is because, No. 1, people believe in what we do and the community supports us. And frankly, if you say no to children, you're not a very smart person.

"So, yes, definitely a blessing."

Pearson said Day Nursery may have moved slowly at times but "everything has been deliberate."

Partnerships, such as working with the school district, have been key.

"Such as getting pre-k kids ready for school," she said. Also, involving school students interested in careers in early childhood to enable them to get hands-on experience.

"We want them to make a commitment to the field," Pearson said.

The first student who attained her early children development credential while in highs school still is working at the Sherry Lane facility.

Education is key at Day Nursery

The qualification for sending youngsters was that a parent(s) had to be working or attending school.

Babies are accepted because, Pearson said, some mothers have no choice. Also, some are born in "compromised situations" and go into Child Protective Services, bringing Day Nursery into the solution.

"That happens more often than we'd like to know," she said.

Day Nursery, which is funded for 120 employees, was supported by federal funds to assist low income and special needs children. However, additional funding was needed and provided by United Way of Abilene, the Child Care Food Program and donations by private businesses and donors.

Parents also pay a fee.

"We want parents to have a co-pay. We don't want free child care," Pearson said. What is paid is based on income. Most who come to Day Nursery qualify for state assistance.

"But you don't have to be low-income to come to Day Nursery," she said. "We've had more and more families that are private pay who want to come to our program because we have a good reputation. and we emphasize school readiness."

To her, Day Nursery is a place for youngsters to learn. There is a pressing need to prepare young children for school, both intellectually and emotionally.

Pearson praised her staff for nurturing toddlers, whom she calls "little teenagers."

"So many similarities between toddlers and teenagers," she said, laughing. "The world centers around me."

What Pearson has seen over the years is a greater emphasis on quality.

There were few standards back in time but the state has instituted the Texas Rising Star program, which rates quality and improvement.

"People realized, maybe we ought to emphasize quality," Pearson said. "We've always done that. Our mission statement is to provide affordable, quality child care for a diverse community.

"Those underlying principles in our mission have not changed."

Day Nursey uses a research-based curriculum and seeks to have staff with credentials in education. It always has emphasized nutrition because, she said 50% of a child's development is based on good nutrition.

Safety was paramount before it became a government manddate.

The pandemic gave greater notice to the importance of child care. Day Nursery was essential in getting people back to work

"They realized, 'How are parents going to go to work?' It didn't take them long to realize that," Pearson said.

As for the growing community need for child care, Pearson said, "There is a huge need."

She said Community Foundation of Abilene has commissioned a study on this need.

In the past, she said, those being recruited to come to Abilene for employment first asked about schools, Now, child care is a first question.

She said another wing at the Orange street location would provide space.

"We've had discussion with Hendrick about that," she said.

The Wylie ISD has asked about child care.

"I said we'd do it in a heartbeat if we had the workforce," Pearson said.

Day Nursery actually was looking to expand south - perhaps in the area of Cisco College on Loop 322 - when the opportunity came to open the Orange Street facility.

A need that won't being abating

Pearson said Day Nursery is not a done deal at age 50.

"There are lot of things that are the same but the challenges are always different," she said.

"I'm thinking, 'I should have this all figured out by now.' Maybe that's why I keep coming back," she said, smiling

"There's more to learn. More to learn. There's more to do. And there is a need."

She paused.

"We have job security. People keep having babies," she said. laughing. "It's the darndest thing."

This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: A need then, a need now: Day Nursery celebrates 50 years of service