Group prepares to open day care
By Bonnie Edwards
Published in News on June 18, 2004 1:55 PM
FAISON -- The old Cates pickle company's administrative complex on West Center Street is almost ready to become a children's day-care center.
The complex has four buildings joined in about 10,000 square feet surrounding an atrium. About 1,000 square feet of the building will be unused for a while, said Dr. Greg Bounds, president of the board of directors for the Community Benevolent Foundation. The foundation is a private nonprofit corporation that will own and operate the day-care center.
He said the Duke Endowment has provided primary funding for the center through a grant sought by the foundation and the Faison United Methodist Church.
Bounds hopes the center will be ready to open its doors in early August. So far, Carr and Carr Builders, the company that is doing the renovations, is on schedule.
The foundation board has hired the director, Sharon Franklin, who started work Monday. Bounds said she is seeking money to begin an after-school program at the center.
"This is not going to be a place for baby-sitting or warehousing of children," said Bounds. "She is focusing on preparation and development."
The day-care center will be open to all people, and the foundation is trying to build an endowment to help subsidize those who can't afford the full price.