Winter Park Day Nursery celebrates 80 years

Diana Whitted was on her last legs just a few months ago.

Following a separation from her husband of 28 years, the Kissimmee resident was struggling financially — she said she was doing everything she could to keep the lights on for her and her three children.

“There was no money for phone bills,” Whitted said. “My daughter had a fever one day; I couldn’t even call the pediatrician to make an appointment. My car could have been taken from me any day.”

It was around this time she met a representative from the Winter Park Day Nursery, who asked to take a look at some of her bills. Shortly after, the nursery staff paid those bills with a crisis emergency grant, supplied Whitted’s 1-year-old daughter, Makenna, with new diapers and clothes and eventually admitted her into the preschool. 

It’s been a miraculous experience for the young mother.

“I cried, I’m going to cry now,” Whitted said. “Just the fact that the organization has a system in place and is so giving and so sensitive for families and helping others … I can’t even put it into words how (they) helped me.”

Whitted is just one of many people who have been helped by the preschool over the last several decades. The Winter Park institution recently celebrated 80 years of providing affordable education and child care for children and working families in need.

“There’s a lot of research that talks about the importance of developing children’s brains between the years of zero and 5,” Day Nursery Executive Director Ali DeMaria said. “The things they learn and the environments they are in during those formative years … it’s when they’re going through those developmental milestones and creating their personalities. The effects of being in a loving and supporting and safe environment (are) immense.”

Helping Others

The preschool cares for 65 student who are 6 weeks to 5 years old in a number of different ways, including early literacy, math readiness, and social and emotional development.

The school employs a creative curriculum through which the children are encouraged to make choices and ask questions throughout each day. The school’s teachers provide experiences and learning situations to promote mental growth. 

Sometimes, that growth can be found in unexpected ways. Former Executive Director Lynda Mays remembers one child at the school who refused to listen to his teachers.   

“In talking with him and playing him, she and I realized he was deaf,” Mays said. “That’s why he wasn’t responding to us. … We got him into a home for deaf (children). Things like this happened all the time. Throughout Orange County, there are kids that went through Winter Park Day Nursery that are successful.”

Winter Park Day Nursery specializes in offering subsidies and scholarships for families who don’t qualify for government assistance so they can send their children to the preschool. 

Seventy percent of the nursery’s families receive some form of financial support, either from the preschool or the state, according to DeMaria. She said a pre-K student’s tuition is about $140 per week, while an infant’s tuition is $250 per week.  

The school has started its crisis fund program in recent years to help working families from missing payments that would affect their ability to work and pay for child care.

“We found so many times that a parent’s car would break down, and then they wouldn’t be able to pay for child care, because they’d pay for the car,” DeMaria said. “But if they couldn’t bring their child to child care, they couldn’t go to work. And if they can’t go to work, they’re down another week’s pay. There’s this spiral effect.”

The organization needs the help of patrons to help families cover the crisis program and tuition subsidies — it typically has a budget of a little more than $1 million, according to DeMaria — and hosts an annual function to thank its benefactors and raise more funds.

 This year’s Spring Jubilee fundraiser, which raised more than $60,000, had Whitted telling her story to Day Nursery staff and donors.

The preschool has seen changes over the last several decades — it now prides itself on its educational programs — and the support and enthusiasm from the community hasn’t wavered. 

“We used to say we were kind of Winter Park’s best-kept secret, but we’re working on not being a secret anymore,” DeMaria said. 

HISTORY

1939 Winter Park Day Nursery at 285 Garfield is founded

1941 Nursery opens with 22 children enrolled

1944 Nursery incorporates volunteer board

1948 New building at 101 West Park opens, could serve 34 children

1950 First African-American teachers are hired

1958 City purchases West Park property

1974 Twila Schmidt retires

1986 Enrollment increases by 30 more children

1989 Nursery is licensed by Florida Health and Human Services, receives funds from Florida Milk program

2000 Nursery accredited by National Association for the Education of Young Children

2011 Ali DeMari becomes Executive Director

2013 Recognized as demonstration site for Program-Wise Positive Behavior