Last week the Callaway Chamber of Commerce and community members officially welcomed a new daycare to town. The Chamber hosted a ribbon cutting on Wednesday, Aug. 9, for Precious Angel Daycare, operating in the same location as the former Homegrown Kids.

Mary Shaw has owned and operated Precious Angel Daycare in Broken Bow since 2000. Two years after opening her first center she opened a second location in Broken Bow and has now taken on a third location in Callaway. She purchased the Callaway property in late April.

Because the Precious Angel-Callaway is not licensed as a center, they will have one full-time employee at the location rather than a director. Rochale Schriner is that employee.

“Hopefully soon we will need to hire a part-time employee as well,” said Precious Angel Assistant Director Sara Arnold.

The daycare is licensed for 12 children, and can currently take up to 10 with one infant with the current staff. They opened on Monday, Aug. 14, with two children; however, they expect to fill up pretty quickly.

“It’s always been a passion of mine to branch out to another community,” said Shaw. She said she has looked at properties in Ord and Lexington, but hasn’t really found anything that she thought would be a good fit until now.

“This one came open and it just worked. I think we’re supposed to be here,” Arnold added.

Shaw did childcare in her home prior to opening Precious Angels and has been involved in daycare for about 30 years. She said she is excited to branch out to Callaway.

Chamber President Ken Pitkin gave a warm welcome to the new daycare providers prior to the ribbon cutting last Wednesday. “We are beyond thrilled to have you guys here. It’s a great thing for our community,” said Pitkin.

Schriner has worked for Precious Angle in Broken Bow since February. “They asked me if I wanted to come over here, and I said sure!” said Schriner.

Precious Angel-Callaway will be open Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.