|
It was a beautiful day at Broadway Park, which probably helps explain why we were only 14 strong. Mary Phillipe was present early on to collect $500 for her duck finishing first in this year's race, with Keith Olson given his second place $250.00. Erika Lahti was with us again. Zach Stach gave our invocation. It was announced that peaches are expected to arrive Friday, August 14th, with pick-up/deliveries to start around 11:00 a.m. or noon. Price will be $30 again this year, with an increase to $35 anticipated for our 2021 effort. John MacFarlane led off the bragging, congratulating the club for pulling off the Lucky Duck Derby when there was some thought of cancelling it due to the pandemic, and yet we sold all but 20 raffle tickets. Steve Leitte contributed as well for the Derby, this time thanking Brian Tjaden and Wally Cole for manning the kayak to retrieve the ducks after they finished the exhaustive race. This writer put in for having to write last weeks Rounds twice only to discover he really did not need to and then Wally Cole put in for the opportunity to be with Brian in the kayak. It was discussed at the meeting and since then you have received an e-mail from Kathy (on Friday morning at 9:41 a.m.) indicating we plan to meet at Broadway Park again this coming week, with Double A Catering providing a box lunch at the cost of $10.00. If you want a lunch, you need to register by this Tuesday at 9:00 a.m.. Bring along a folding chair and your own beverage. Marcia Erickson from West Central Initiative was our speaker and she started out telling us about a local day care provider who called her on April 9th at 9:45 p.m. indicating she could not pay her mortgage. Marcia is the Early Childhood Specialist at WCI. We learned during the presentation that Anna's children dropped from twelve to five because of the pandemic and that was not enough to keep her afloat. In a nutshell, the providers are stressed. WCI staff has been working at home since March 13th (and no one has been laid off at this point). The Initiative Fund, one of six statewide and created in 1986, has implemented three separate initiatives to address the crisis. One consisted of small business emergency loans, of which 26 had been made through June 16. A resiliency fund to support non-profits has awarded $413,885 in grants to date. The third leg is for child care providers and to date 284 emergency child care grants have been awarded totaling $306,000, with 94 additional applications pending. WCI is also providing disinfectant products to child care providers and holds a Zoom meeting for child care providers every two weeks. The Fund is encouraging the providers to put together a business plan. Marcia also noted that the providers were not eligible for PPP loans as they usually maintain only one account, for both personal and business income and expenses. She told us that 81% of children in greater Minnesota have both parents working outside the home and 40 to 50% of those cannot access licensed day care. She asked us to reach out to child care providers to see if we can be of any assistance and to encourage our legislative candidates to learn more about the needs of child care providers, noting the industry relies heavily on legislators to address its issues. |
