Community members and patrons gathered for the official ribbon cutting for 7 Valley Kids Daycare in Callaway on Sunday afternoon, Aug. 27. Pictured front row, from left, are Zach Meyer, assistant director Meghan G’Schwind with her husband Clayton and child, assistant director Katie Mason and child, 7 Valley Kids co-founder Chelsea Williams holding the scissors with her daughter, 7 Valley Kids co-founder Kendra Meyer, Daycare Director Haylea Rynearson with her two children and significant other Brandon Wallace, and Stacey Guthard. (Courier photo by Ellen Mortensen)

For the second time in as many weeks, the Callaway Chamber of Commerce hosted a ribbon cutting for a new daycare facility. An open house and ribbon cutting was held on Sunday, Aug. 27, for 7 Valley Kids Daycare.

“We’re just thrilled to have another daycare and another business in town,” exclaimed Chamber President Ken Pitkin following the ribbon cutting.

Pitkin agreed that having two daycare ribbon cuttings in the community within the past two weeks is very exciting. 7 Valley Kids, which opened on Aug. 14, and the recently opened Precious Angel Daycare in Callaway are licensed for up to 12 children. An in-home daycare in the community also serves five children.

Thanks to a working partnership with Callaway Public School, 7 Valley Kids is currently serving 14 children while staying within the 12-at-a-time guideline. “The school comes and picks up our afternoon preschoolers at around 10:50 a.m. and takes them to school to eat lunch and bring our morning preschoolers back,” Director Haylea Rynearson explained. “So we don’t have to transport kids at all, which has been super helpful.”

Kendra Meyer and Chelsea Williams, both moms of young children, began talking at church about the childcare issues they and other moms they knew were experiencing in Callaway this past spring. Within just a couple of months, Christie Pitkin and Juliana Jenkins had jumped on board to help, and the idea of 7 Valley Kids Daycare was off and running. And while the new daycare meets a need for several local families, Ken Pitkin said it is much more than that.

“We can’t grow and progress unless we offer daycare,” Pitkin shared. “This is a great addition in serving the needs of Callaway and we’re hoping this will be attractive to young families and make them want to move here.”