By Tory Duncan,
Clay County News
Reprinted with permission
SUTTON (CCN) – The sense of accomplishment and pride was worn boldly and strongly from the three women— Lindsay Anderson, Julie Haag and Tracy Galusha—all members of St. Mary Church in Sutton, who spearheaded the new Fruits of Mary childcare center that will operate out of the Sutton Catholic Church.
Galusha, along with new center director Ashley Roth, literally, just minutes prior to telling their story to the Clay County News, had spent several hours with state inspectors, that offered their stamp of approval to allow the center to begin operation Oct. 11.
Galusha, with a prideful smile shared, “the journey is just starting.”
When the journey began, according to Anderson, she had no idea where to start.
“The thought of this all began in early 2020, then the COVID-19 pandemic struck and traction to move this forward greatly slowed.
“We just didn’t know where to go or how to begin, so around Christmas time last year, we had a couple of people offer to help. We still had trouble gaining ground until Father Zimmer heard about Julie (Haag) and her vision for a daycare. Once Julie, Tracy and I joined forces, things really took off,” noted Anderson.
Haag reached out to Sutton native Carrie (Griess) Sullivan, who recommended to the leaders of this effort to start out slow, with what the state refers to as a “Home To” center. This option will allow Fruits of Mary to care for up to 12 children each of the five days a week the center will be open.
Sullivan shared with Haag to start small and work up to a full operating center that can provide care to many more when the time is right.
“Carrie recommended that we dip our toes in the water, of which both the St. Mary’s Church Council and the Altar Society gave their blessing to,” according to Haag and Galusha.
Galusha, who serves as the secretary at St. Mary’s Catholic Church added, “we owe so much appreciation to (pastor) Father (Michael) Zimmer as well. All three of us, and now Ashley, had our roles to get to the point where we’re at today with opening the center.”
Operational roles
Anderson’s majority role was and will continue to be on the financial side, making sure this center could make this flow.
Galusha primarily focused on the paperwork, such as finding grant funding and preparing applications for funding options. Haag, according to Galusha, was the “connections person, the one to get out in the community to get our message out and find donors and supporters in many different forms.”
Haag shared, “now that we have this beautiful gem of a person in Ashley on board to serve as our director, it’s time to get the show on the road and do this.”
Roth is a Clay County native, growing up in the Trumbull area. She comes with five years of background, and according to Haag, Galusha and Anderson, a “heart of gold, with so many ideas to lead and grow this center.”
The center will operate Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and thanks to help from the community, the center opened with six staff members on board, including Roth and Galusha who will handle the care for children.
Community help
Nancy Schlautman, the Family and Consumer Science instructor at Sutton High School, helped to recruit some high school kids that will help out after school. Members of the community are stepping up to cook and serve lunches for the children so that Roth and Galusha can remain with the children while lunch is prepared.
“The support from the community, and our hearts is what has, and will continue to drive this,” exclaimed Galusha.
“We’re here to serve a need in the community, which is to provide daycare services as an extension of our pro-life efforts here at St. Mary’s to better serve Sutton, not just the Catholic church members, but Sutton as a whole.”
Donations have been key, shared Haag.
“We’ve had some amazing donations come in. The Pat Bourke family, in her memory, provided a wonderful donation to help us start up, as well as an anonymous donation and so many donations of equipment and items that are needed to operate a child care facility like this.”
Looking to the future
With the opening of the Fruits of Mary child care center, and the soon to be expanded Kids R Us center in the former Clay Bowl building, when asked if this is just the tip of the iceberg to alleviate childcare needs, Haag quickly noted, “yes, it is just the tip of the iceberg.”
Haag added, “we have every intention in a year or so to expand our services to a full daycare center in an effort to increase the number of children and families to care for and help provide more care services by applying for a full daycare center license.”
It was easy to see the joy, pride and emotions these women had that came with passing the state inspection. What stood out to all four women who sifted through hours and hours of red tape, paperwork, stress and emotions, was the fact that the reality of Fruits of Mary had reached the ultimate pinnacle of this year-and-a-half-long “journey that is just beginning.” The group also attributed this to the fact that the community really came together, giving so many assists in helping this become a reality, and to hopefully make Sutton that much easier for families to return home, or attract new families to Sutton to make this community their new home.
Daycare services begin, expand in Sutton to help community
By Clay County News.
Reprinted with permission. Edited for length.
SUTTON (CCN) – The findings within the Vision Implementation Plan for the City of Sutton, which was completed in 2016, stated that daycare services were the highest priority level for the community moving forward.
Daycare services in Sutton have now taken a major positive step forward. 
Michele Gibson and her husband Brett recently moved their Kids R Us Childcare Center to a new location at 1011 N. Saunders Ave., expanding from 12 children to 45 children at the new facility.
The new the Fruits of Mary Child Care program at St. Mary Church, 312 S. Saunders Ave., adds another 12-15 places for families to utilize for child care services.
During discussions with the mayor, city staff and community members, the need for daycare, as well as before and after school opportunities came to light as the biggest need to bring former Suttonites back and make Sutton more attractive to others wanting to make Sutton home.
In the Vision Implementation Plan developed in 2016, it was noted that “it became evident that childcare and /or senior care for the working families of Sutton is one of the City’s current greatest needs to support in its economic base. The lack of family care can negatively impact a community by limiting the family income of two working adults. It can also affect the efficiency of the local economy that can grow business, generate taxable sales, and help offset the costs of quality of life amenities for the residents of the community by reducing available labor supply.”
Additionally, the VIP shared the recommendation of JEO (JEO Consulting Group, who conducted and compiled the information within the VIP) that “the city work to better enhance the family care opportunities for the working families of the city and then capture the benefit that additional local monies can provide for quality of life betterment.”
JEO recommended the formation of a committee to explore and create more care provider opportunities for the working families of Sutton.
