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PHOTO: Sam Hight, chair of the Early Learning Center fundraising committee, speaks at a Business After Hours event Jan. 26. (Submitted photo)
SKOWHEGAN – Area business leaders gathered Jan. 26 for a Business After Hours to raise awareness for the new Early Learning Center slated to open in fall 2025.
The Business After Hours was c-hosted by Sam Hight, KVCAP, Main Street Skowhegan, and the Skowhegan Regional Chamber of Commerce, at Brickyard Hollow.
In September 2022, Sam Hight announced at the fundraising campaign kickoff that $1.6 million had already been raised for the center. The campaign has grown to $2.5 million, with support from businesses and community leaders throughout the region.
The Early Learning Center will be built as part of the new Margaret Chase Smith Community School. It will be the first birth-through-grade-five school in Maine.
The evening Jan. 26 kicked off with Hight inviting local business leaders to join his family, the campaign committee, and others in supporting the new Early Learning Center.
“We are fortunate to live in a community that values Early Childhood Education and workforce development,” Hight said. “Since returning home 15 years ago, I have focused on helping develop a vibrant, enriching, progressive, and successful community. Children, especially young children play the largest role in the generational success of a community. I have been fortunate to have all of the opportunities you would want your child to have–this program will ensure that more children have access to all of the rolls and gifts that quality childcare and preschool education provides.”
Hight chairs the committee leading the fundraising effort. Also on the committee are Erin Merrill, Suzanne Walsh, Tracye Fortin, Gail Gibson, Chelsey Carrier, Rich St. Pierre, Michael Lambke and Jon Moody.
Business and community leaders from Skowhegan and neighboring towns filled the room at Brickyard Hollow to learn more about the economic impact that the Early Learning Center will have on Skowhegan. Don Skillings, from State Farm Insurance, also spoke, citing his family’s decision to make a contribution of $50,000.
“It’s not often in life when you have the opportunity to absolutely change someone else’s life,” Skillings said. “This new school will afford all children in MSAD 54, regardless of household income, an opportunity for early education, which is statistically proven to work. As a community member, we are afforded this once in a lifetime opportunity to help, whether it’s $100 or $1 million, every single dollar will contribute to tthis project succeeding. I cannot think of a more transformative donation a person can give. This is why our family has chosen to support this project.”
The Early Learning Center will be operated by KVCAP, using Educare philosophies, to offer childcare and pre-k education for 160 students. In addition to serving more students, the center will add 15 jobs to the region. The Early Learning Center will not only be for instilling the importance of education to children at a young age, but will provide crucial workforce development, addressing the poverty cycle in Somerset County.
For more information, visit www.kvcap.org/building-better-beginnings.
