PTEEO receives major donation from three local businesses

PATEROS – The Project to Bring Affordable Child Care to Rural Community is now a go.

At a check presentation ceremony April 15 at the Church of Christ building located at 128 Independence Street in Pateros, the Pateros Treehouse Early Education Organization received a joint donation in the exact amount of $110,000 from Gebbers Farms, Chelan Fresh, and Apple House Warehouse & Storage Inc. The donation gives parents in the area a reason to celebrate because it will allow the site to soon be purchased and renovated for a new childcare and learning center.

When Kailee Tanneberg found out that her daughter’s daycare - one of the only licensed home daycares within miles of her home - was going to close, she started to panic. Where would her three-year-old daughter go while she had to work? The parents of the other 11 children attending the same daycare were asking the same question. Thankfully, the retiring owners, Carlene Anders and Gene Dowers had a plan not just to replace their home-based daycare business, Activity Based Child Care (ABC) & Preschool, but expand it, although it would not be easy.

Kailee is now president of the Pateros Treehouse Early Education Organization (Pateros Treehouse), a non-profit organization founded by Anders and Dowers to provide an affordable, high-quality, licensed childcare facility in Pateros. The organization has spent more than two years raising money to fund an early childcare learning center that could care for up to 50 children - more than four times the number of children as the ABC Daycare.

By March, Pateros Treehouse had secured government and in-kind funding for the bulk of the expenses to properly renovate a building purchased at a steep discount from a local church. However, it was still far behind what it needed. The non-profit had just days left to raise the $110,000 in matching funds required to receive a $540,000 Early Learning Facilities (ELF) grant from the Washington Department of Commerce. If they did not get the money, they’d lose the grant and likely the dream of having affordable, quality childcare in their rural town.

Desperate, Kailee wrote a letter to prospective donors, and then on April 6, she got word - Gebbers Farms, Chelan Fresh, and Apple House Warehouse & Storage together would donate all the $110,000 necessary to meet the grant requirement by the April 15 deadline.

“I couldn’t believe it,” reflected Ms. Tanneberg. “I was hoping for any donation, no matter how small. Not in my wildest dreams did I think it would equal the entire amount needed by April 15.”

Since the donation, Pateros Treehouse has received more than $20,000 in additional donations from other local companies, family and friends.

At the ceremony, Ms. Tanneberg said, “The board is sincerely grateful to everyone who has so generously donated money, made in-kind contributions, and volunteered their time to get the project this far. We also extend a special thanks to Chelan Fresh, Gebbers Farms, and Apple House Warehouse for their tremendous support. Their philanthropic donation will help make the Pateros Treehouse Early Education center a reality.”

Cass Gebbers, who represented all three businesses at the ceremony, said, “Gebbers Farms, Chelan Fresh and Apple House are proud to present this donation to the Pateros Treehouse Early Education center in support of providing quality, childcare for local families and their children.”

With the matching funds now raised, the organization will complete the ELF grant paperwork so that renovation can begin soon. It is too early to say when the new center will open, and the group must still raise an additional $30,000 to meet its total projected budget. However, the board is determined to move as quickly as possible because it recognizes the tremendous need for quality childcare in the area.

“I felt this project was absolutely critical to our communities. I couldn’t imagine closing our doors without somewhere for these wonderful families to go”, stated Anders.

During the past 24 years, ABC offered childcare and preschool for hundreds of children.

“We have seen parents in tears when they finally get a spot for their child. Oftentimes they were on a waiting list well over a year. We even had a parent, who was trying to get pregnant, offer to pay for a spot immediately, to secure an open spot.” Dowers said, “Seeing this project to fruition has been a long road. We have stayed open two years beyond our planned closure; however, it has been well worth it. We are incredibly appreciative and excited for all who have contributed and continue to invest in the Treehouse.”

According to The Center for American Progress, much of central Washington is a childcare desert where there are at least three kids, five and under, for every childcare slot, and the pandemic has made it even worse. Before the pandemic, 60 percent of rural Americans lived in a childcare desert. The Pateros Treehouse Early Education Organization has now raised about $750,000 of the total $780,000 needed for the new childcare and learning facility. It is still $30,000 short of its total goal. To donate please visit our website, paterostreehouse.com/give, or the Pateros Treehouse Fundraiser gofundme page. We are sincerely thankful for donations in any amount. Please visit our project page, paterostreehouse.com/project-progress, for updates.