Salvation Army Opens Daycare For First Responders During Pandemic

Many essential workers like police officers, firefighters, and health care workers are having trouble finding child care right now.

The Salvation Army saw that need and decided they wanted to help by opening the Mabee Red Shield Daycare Center. Right now there's only about 8 kids signed up for daycare here at Mabee Red Shield Daycare Center but they hope to get more kids soon as more parents start heading back to work.

The Mabee Red Shield Boys and girls club daycare near Harvard and Pine is taking extra precautions to accommodate kids of essential workers. They have five different sites total but this is the only one open right now. They say they hope to open more soon.

Staff say they can have up to 50 kids here but will separate them into smaller groups to follow CDC guidelines. Every person must have their temperature checked when they walk in the door, staff and kids are also wearing masks inside. They're also taking additional cleaning measures as well.

At the site, they're able to watch TV, play games, and even do some of their distance learning on the computer. 9-year-old Mason Cochran says he's having a lot of fun so far and he's just happy to get out of the house.

 "When I came here I went into the game room and played with my toy and I was watching movies and then I came in here and started eating some pancakes," said Mason

"We anticipate we will serve about 50 youth and one of the reasons that's lower is because we are keeping them in small groups as a safety precaution so we will have five groups that are rotating and doing different activities," said Salvation Army Area Commander Major Mark Harwell,

The daycare services cost about $20 a week. To register CLICK HERE