The need for quality childcare is not just a big city issue. Every community is struggling with finding daycare providers for our youngest residents, and Callaway is no exception.

It is a need that Kayla Berg became aware of shortly after moving to Callaway after marrying a local boy. A native of Loup City, Berg went to school for dental assisting following her high school graduation. While attending college she met her husband Kyle.

After getting married, she moved with her new husband to Callaway and began filling in at a dental office in Broken Bow. However, the need for childcare in the area quickly became apparent to Berg.

“I had Stacy Guthard call and ask me if I would be willing to babysit part-time. I still had the job in Broken Bow, but I started watching her little boy at my home when she went back to work at six weeks,” said Berg. “I just did that on the days I didn’t work in Broken Bow, but she asked me if I would watch him full-time and quit my other job. So I did.”

Berg said she continued to babysit that child, and when Stacy had another son she took him in also. “Then I got pregnant with my twins and stopped babysitting for a while, because I wasn’t sure how all that would go. I didn’t know if they would have to be in the hospital for a while, or what to expect, so I stopped doing daycare in 2018 and just focused on my twins,” she explained.

However, people continued to approach her about daycare as it became harder and harder to find care. Sarah Hogg had opened a daycare in Callaway a few years ago, and when she changed jobs it was purchased by Heather Hagler of Arnold and became Homegrown Kids East. However, there seemed to always be a waiting list. Just one provider could not meet the demand.

“There is a lot of paperwork involved, and they make it kind of difficult to get licensed. There is a lot to do and it is sort of stressful, so I can see why a lot of people don’t do it,” said Berg. “I know there are reasons for that, but that also detours a lot of people that want to do it.”

As she lives out in the country, Berg said once she decided to get back into daycare full-time she began looking for a house in town to make things more convenient for families. She said they were having trouble finding anything in their price range that didn’t require a great deal of work. Then over the summer she received a tip about a house that was going on the market that was just what they were looking for, and even better yet, in close proximity to the school at 501 East Pacific.

“We decided to make an offer on it because it was a good deal and we knew it wasn’t going to last long. So we bought it in June, the day before the storm hit. So that put a damper on closing because we fought with insurance forever,” Berg explained. They finally closed on the property in August.

She was then contacted about the existing daycare in Callaway closing, so Berg contacted owner Heather Hagler and worked out an arrangement to purchase the daycare. Berg is currently operating the daycare under Hagler’s license through a change of ownership, until Berg’s paperwork all comes through. “I only had three weeks to get all of the paperwork done for both locations, and it’s a lot!,” she added.

Her original plan was only to open a daycare at the Pacific Street location, and already had that facility filled. She will be licensed for 12 kiddos at that location, but with the addition of a second location which is also licensed for 12, she will run the Pacific Street location herself with eight kids.

Berg currently has three employees, counting herself, and plans to add a high school student during the summer to help out. Fully staffed with three full-time and a couple of part-time employees, the daycare can accommodate up to 24 children.

All of the kids that were currently enrolled in Homegrown Kids East remained with Berg, with parents happy to still have a place to take their children. The name of both locations will be Little Farmhouse Daycare once all of Berg’s licensing paperwork comes in.

She is currently full at the Homegrown Kids location, and has a waiting list. Because there is such a need for daycare in the community, Berg said she received a lot of support in purchasing the business. Some of that support came in the form of LB840 funds.

“It worked out so well that we got to do this.” said Berg. The daycare is open from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. She is hoping to have the second location operational by the first of the year.