PLEASE HELP US SAVE OUR CHILD CARE CENTER

Hello everyone. My name is Roberta and I am fundraising on behalf of Kidding Around Child Care Center. We have been in operation for eight years and recently relocated from Madison, Tennessee to Hendersonville, Tennessee in May of 2023. I was under the impression that the transition would be smooth, but we have been met with a lot of resistance as well as racism. Although Kidding Around Child Care Center is a minority-owned facility, we pride ourselves on our extremely diverse center. We cater to African American kids, Caucasian kids, Hispanic kids, special needs kids, families of the Muslim faith, the Christian faith, and the list goes on. Not only do we cater to such a wide variety of children, our staff is also extremely diverse. We are a ZERO tolerance zone when it comes to racism of any sort and we will FOREVER remain that way.

Unfortunately, a parent whose child we cared for over a span of two years could no longer conceal the way she felt about people of color. We have a clause in our contract agreement that states: "Your child care services can be dropped from KACCC based on your child’s behavior, or the inappropriate behavior of a parent. We do not tolerate any child or parent disrespecting our center, other children, nor our staff. We will give three warnings prior to the cancellation of contract."

This specific parent was given more than three warnings, but on her last strike she was politely informed that she was more than welcome to find another center for her child to attend. Sadly, this former parent proceeded to make a false allegation against us.

From May until July 2023, I was constantly harassed and bullied by DHS staff, but was not even informed of what we were being harassed for up until July 7, 2023, when the investigation of the complaint was concluded as false. The damage had already been done and we were beginning to drown due to DHS not releasing our license until July 7, 2023.

On October 8, 2023, the landlords of the building stated that we had to have an ADA compliant parking space as well as three additional parking spaces put onto the property before the end of the month, otherwise we will have to vacate the premises. Basically, they're making us cover the costs of well over $25,000 within the next few weeks, as we are STILL trying to rebuild and actively enroll new students in our center. Vacating the premises ultimately means that we will no longer be able to operate nor serve the community that we have built.

We are asking that you please share this link with every and anyone that you know in order to help us meet our financial goal so that we can remain in operation. It would mean the world to me as I've worked so very hard and diligently on building such a beautiful community. Kidding Around Child Care Center is the best thing I have ever accomplished in my life and it's given me purpose, as it has allowed me to impact so many different lives in the most positive way.

Again, please share with everyone you may know and help us save our center. It would be the biggest blessing, and I believe that anything can be achieved through collaboration of community.