Page 4 - Ministry of Caring

SPECIAL PROMOTIONAL SECTION
Dana Thompkins (right) with her daughter Kira, son Scooter, niece Camryn and nephew Cole.
Laying the Foundation
Affordable childcare puts children on the path to success.
In 1998, Dana Thompkins noted the opening of Guardian Angel Child Care with interest. Her mother was watching her son, Yento “Scooter” Blyden, but it was a temporary arrangement. “I knew I would need day care,” says Thompkins, who at the time worked across the street from the center in Wilmington’s Eastside neighborhood.
On a tour of the site, Thompkins met Sister of St. Francis Kathleen Pollard, “whom I loved instantly,” she says. When
Scooter turned 1, she enrolled him in the program. The experience was so positive that she did the same for daughter Kira. “From the beginning, it was more like a family for my kids—the staff cared about everything that was going on with them,” Thompkins says. “If the kids were sick, the staff called to see if they were OK. I never once was concerned about their safety.”
Guardian Angel is one of the three child-care facilities that the Ministry of Caring opened to meet low-income parents’
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