ABOVE: Lucas goes to tell Santa what he wants for Christmas on Tuesday afternoon at Building Blocks Learning Center and Child Care in Fairmont. Santa’s visit was one in an exciting string of things that have happened since the children moved into the new center just over a week ago.

FAIRMONT– Christmas came early for dozens of children at Building Blocks Learning Center and Child Care in Fairmont as they got to officially move into the new center on Dec. 15. To add to the excitement, on the last day before holiday break, the kids got a visit from Santa on Tuesday.

Building Block’s Katie Meger said that the state licensor came on Dec. 12. That inspection was the last that needed to be completed before everyone could move into the new child care center.

“The kids have been great. They’ve been happy and excited. It was great transition for them, I think mostly because it was a lot of the same stuff and the same teachers,” Meger explained.

While the teachers and toys may be the same, the kids have some pretty great new digs.

Work on a new child care center, which would be housed inside the new Lakeview Methodist Health Care Center, began back in 2019. However, when after Covid first hit and the cost of building materials increased, Lakeview had to focus on finishing the skilled nursing facility, leaving only a shell of the new child care space, which it had already put $1.25 million into. The space sat mostly empty while Lakeview worked on fundraising for the remaining amount, about $1 million.

A number of generous private donations came in and then the Board of Directors at Lakeview committed to covering the remainder of the cost in 2024 and then this past summer, the Martin County EDA also granted the project a $100,000 forgivable loan.

Work began in earnest again this past spring. The new center includes an infant room, toddler room, junior preschool room and preschool room. It can accommodate children from six weeks old up to five years old.

Most importantly though, is that the new, bigger space, can accommodate almost twice as many kids. While the former space had a max capacity of about 50 kids, the new space can accommodate nearly 100.

Meger said that since they’ve moved into the new space, they’ve just been getting adjusted but they will soon open up another preschool room on Jan. 5. The new room will allow them to take a few more dozen children.

“We’re still waiting on the drop-in room because, with taking on more children, we want to make sure that we have that all figured out first,” she explained.

The drop-in room is something that the Martin County EDA is especially excited about because of what it means for the business community.

With more children will come more staff. Meger said they’re always taking applications but that they are currently engaged in the interview process.

Even Santa on Tuesday commented on the new facility, calling it a beautiful space. Meger said that a lot of the parents have also seemed to be very happy with the space as they drop their children off.

More information on openings will be available soon by checking Building Block’s Facebook page or website at buildingblocks-fmt.org.