MILFORD -ÊNew beginnings for a nonprofit organization may create a need for financial assistance.

New Beginnings Child Care, Milford, is offering room sponsorships to help fund the remaining equipment needed for their new facilities. Needed equipment includes everything from playground equipment, books, toys, computers and other equipment to help furnish the interior.

"We're setting up a new shop, basically," said New Beginnings president Mark Baumgartner.

Each room in the center is up for sponsorship for a designated price. Sponsorships range from $250 to $2,000. Several rooms have already been purchased. Companies who have sponsored rooms include R.R. Donnelley & Sons, Phend & Brown and R.P. Murphy.

Sponsors will have their club, business, organization or individual name on a wall plaque at the facility. Rooms are limited and contributions are tax deductible.

Those interested in sponsoring a room can contact New Beginnings director Amy Marra at 658-9440.

The child care center was formed by parents and concerned citizens in the Milford community. Baumgartner said the community saw the importance of a continued community-based child care when Generations Child Care said they were going to close in April 1996.

Their doors opened Sept. 3, 1996, at First Brethren Church, West Catherine Street, Milford. During the last two years, the center has raised money for their own facilities. In May 1998, the center was awarded a $450,000 block grant from the Indiana Department of Commerce, Baumgartner said. Other contributions and grants were awarded from the Dekko Foundation among others.

New Beginnings also raised $100,000 on their own.

Groundbreaking on the new facilities occurred in October 1998. Baumgartner said they hope to have their grand opening in June.

Currently, Marra said, New Beginnings has 56 children enrolled. Once the new facility is up and running, they will be able to have 88 children ages 2 to 12 years old. They have a staff of six, but that will continue to grow, she said.

At the new facility, the center will be able to cook meals and will have a staff cook.

"We're really getting excited because everything is coming to a close," Marra said.

Baumgartner said: "I know the kids will be excited because the playground will be twice as big."

Total space for the new New Beginnings will be 6,000 square feet. Rooms include a lobby area for a receptionist, a director's office, a teachers' lounge and workroom, a sick room, a kitchen, bathrooms and four classrooms.

The classrooms will be broken down into age groups. Children 2 years old will have their own classroom, as will 3 year olds. Children ages 4 and 5 will share a classroom. School-aged children, 6 to 12 years old, will share a classroom. The room for school aged children has a capacity for up to 38 children, Marra said.

Children are from the Milford, Syracuse and southern Elkhart County as well as from Warsaw.

New Beginnings currently has openings for all ages. Two-year- olds are new to New Beginnings and day care for them will not begin until the new facilities are ready. However, a waiting list is being compiled.

The center is open 5:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and provides a nutritional breakfast, hot lunch and two snacks daily.

Programs offered include a nursery school, child care, kindergarten, latch-key for school age children, a summer program and day slots.

For more information on the day care itself, or to schedule a tour, call 658-9440. [[In-content Ad]]