TheLeelanau Children’s Center is getting a hefty donation from a group of winery owners in Leelanau County.
The Leelanau Peninsula Vintners Association is giving $13,000 to the nonprofit Children’s Center.
The money will make a dent in the $250,000 the center raises each year to fund operating costs, programs and scholarships for families.
Without it, “our cost of education would be closer to probably $90 a day, our rate is $60 day," said executive director Heidi Kruse. "And if a family can't afford that, then we'll provide additional scholarships to whatever we need to do to make sure that that family who has a child that is at-need or at risk can attend an early childhood education program.”
The Center also advocates for families in the community. Earlier this year it partnered on some grant funding to help Little Acorn Childcare open in Northport to boost capacity for childcare.
The Vintners Association raised money by selling tickets to events at 21 wineries this year. Geoff Hamelin leads the group.
Hamelin has two kids and experienced a litany of closures at various care centers when his children were young.
“We’re all experiencing an impact related to childcare in some way shape or form within each of our businesses," Hamelin said. "I'm not familiar with anybody that doesn't have some form of issue related to this.”
And more money could be on the way. The Vintner’s Association is hosting nine events in 2024 and plans to donate some of the ticket sales to the Child’s Center at the end of year.
