Peck Child Development Center turns 40
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| Children at Peck Child Development Center play outdoors recently. The center is celebrating its 40th anniversary from 4 to 7 p.m. Thursday. |
More than 5,000 happy children have come and gone from Peck Child Development Center in Newton since its inception 40 years ago. Since that time, the center’s philosophy has changed very little.
“We are a very family-oriented program, with the philosophy of extension of family living,” Peck executive director Deb Krampe said. “We’re not just child care, we’re early education and child care all in one. We have a lot of fun here.”
Peck Child Development Center Inc. was made possible by a donation from Newton resident Vera Peck in memory of her late husband. She donated $90,000 to the Iowa Department of Social Services in September 1970 to construct, equip and staff a model day care center for central and eastern Iowa. A 10-year contract was signed between Peck and the Department of Social Services to ensure the operation of the center. Children were first served at Peck in April 1972.
At the end of that 10-year contract, the center was turned over to community services in Aug. 1, 1981. To facilitate the turnover, Peck formed a board of directors, with a major goal of obtaining funding for the center. Peck is now a private, non-profit organization, licensed for 54 children by the State of Iowa. It has a quality rating from the state of four out of a possible five.
The facility serves 2- to 10-year-olds, full and part-time. A sliding scale of fees is offered for full-time children, subsidized by United Way of Jasper County. Additional funding sources include parent fees, Jasper County Empowerment scholarships, and facility grants from the Jasper Community Foundation.
Currently, Peck has a staff consisting of Krampe, Assistant Director Kris Weston of 33 years, plus six teachers and one cook. Previous directors were Wanda Langner, Agnes Kovacs and Susan Hawk.
An open house to celebrate Peck Child Development Center’s 40 years is scheduled for 4 to 7 p.m. Thursday. The center is located at 513 E. Fifth St. N. in Newton. The center certainly has plenty of alumni who could make a return visit.
“We figure we’re on our third generation,” Weston said.
John Jennings can be contacted at (641) 792-3121 ext. 425 or via email at jjennings@newtondailynews.com.
