The new owners of the Emily Grace Child Care Center say they want to make it the best daycare in the area. Gary and Lynda D’Heilly, who own a civil engineering firm in Annandale, bought the daycare last week after financial problems threatened to shut it down. They closed the building on West Commercial Drive for a week to do some painting and fixing-up but reopened Monday, Nov. 10. “We are going to be involved in trying to make it the best daycare around,” Lynda said in an interview. “We don’t want to be associated with something that we can’t be proud of.” Their main reason for buying it is to keep it as a daycare, she said. “It should be a daycare because Annandale needs a daycare.” In a time of two-income families when both parents have to work “they need someplace that they can feel comfortable leaving their children,” Lynda said. The Emily Grace was Annandale’s only state-licensed daycare center. The new owners plan to rename the center but haven’t done so yet. They hope to choose a new name with the help of staff members this week. The Emily Grace center cared for 56 children and employed 14 staff before former owner Laurie Wink announced Friday, Oct. 17, that she planned to close Friday, Oct. 31. Lynda said she hopes some of the parents who made other arrangements will bring their children back, but they expect some youngsters won’t return. Director Kelly Woyke estimated the daycare will have 10 less children, but she hopes some will come back as parents see positive changes there. Lynda praised the staff and pointed out they repainted the building’s interior last week. With fewer children returning, layoffs are possible, she said. “We’re hoping that will not be the case.” If layoffs do occur, staff will be brought back as children return to the daycare, she said. Woyke, who’s been director since before Wink bought the daycare in mid-2001, will run the day-to-day operations, Lynda said. “We will be behind the scenes making sure everything runs smoothly.” The new owners plan to initiate once-a-week staff meetings and provide a comment box for feedback from parents. They also plan to remodel the building over time, Lynda said. Emily Grace had preschool programs, but the new center will work on improving them and letting parents know they’re available, Woyke said. “Rather than this being strictly child care, we want to be a learning center, developing the children from infancy through school age.” “We will be focusing on the curriculum for preschool,” Lynda added, “because that prepares them to go into kindergarten from here.” The new owners credited Joy Carlson at Annandale Properties, their agent, and Mike McNellis of Oak Realty for working hard to make the sale happen. Jay Hanson of the Oakley National Bank in Buffalo helped get the financing together, they said. The D’Heillys have been Annandale residents for nearly 10 years and have owned D’Heilly Engineering for about seven years.
