Oak Park & River Forest Day Nursery Opens Kitchen Construction made possible by Community Block Development Grant The Oak Park & River Forest Day Nursery welcomed friends to view their newly updated industrial kitchen at a ribbon cutting ceremony on Wednesday, March 18, 2009. Oak Park Village President David Pope, Trustee John Hedges and Village Clerk Sandra Sokol attended the event to open the new kitchen. The Day Nursery completed the project in February after receiving a $235,000 Community Block development Grant (CDBG), the largest grant administered through the Village of Oak Park. The CDBG is a federal grant aimed at improving the lives of low- to moderate-income families. The Day Nursery qualified for this grant because the organization offers child care to families of all income levels on a sliding fee scale, and because the kitchen needed to be updated to remain compliant with current Illinois Department of Health Services standards. Because the 1926 Day Nursery building is a historic landmark, not only did the Day Nursery kitchen need to meet current state standards, but the design needed to ensure the historic integrity of the building. Past Day Nursery presidents and Oak Park residents Char Schwar and Nancy Guarino as well as Pope cut the ribbon to the new kitchen. Pope offered his congratulations and thanked the Day Nursery for continuing its mission of providing safe, affordable child care in a nurturing environment to families in the community. Caring for our children is one of the most important aspects of maintaining a community, he said. Current Day Nursery co-presidents Melissa Elmso and Maureen Delaney as well as the rest of the Day Nursery board members were on hand to offer tours of the historic building and greet attendees. DAY NURSERY RECOVERING FROM FLOOD DAMAGE As you may know, the heavy rains that came through the Oak Park area in August, 2007, left the Day Nursery with approximately $62000 in damage to its building. While recovering from this damage, the talented and caring Day Nursery staff were able to relocate children to different areas in the building and continue to care for them and educate them without interruption. As of December, 2007, the Day Nursery received about $28000 in compensation from insurance and gifts. We still need your help to continue our mission of providing quality education and childcare in a safe, nurturing environment. Please support our fund-raisers, or consider making a tax-deductible donation today. Please contact the Day Nursery at (708) 383-8211 to learn more about ways you can help. Donations can be sent to the Day Nursery at the following address: Oak Park & River Forest Day Nursery 1139 Randolph St. Oak Park, IL 60302 Online donations currently are not available on our website, but are coming soon. Please check back often!