Help sustain Grannie Annie's Child Care

Grannie Annie's has been an integral part of the Pasadena community for more than 19 years. We have provided an invaluable service to more than 800 families. By providing multi-generational care, employing former students, and the sheer longevity of our teachers, we have cultivated an extensive "family" in a home-like setting. Grannie Annie's has touched the lives of many people directly and indirectly. And now we are asking for your help.

Over the summer, we had an incident, an honest mistake made by good people. Thankfully, everyone is okay. Immediately, we self-reported the incident to the State and County, notified our families, suspended the employees involved, strengthened our policies and procedures, and trained our staff. But the state suspended our license.

We continued to pay our employees after the suspension, thinking that we might be closed a couple of weeks. We also asked our parents to wait it out, and almost all of them indicated that they could if it would just be a couple of weeks. It became apparent by week 3 that it wouldn't be a fast resolution. We had to lay off staff and started encouraging our families to find temporary care elsewhere. "Temporary" ultimately turned out to be two months.

During the two-month suspension, we could have filed an appeal in court to overturn the State's decision. It might have been quicker, but we might not have been successful in court--mistakes were made and the incident happened, we weren't denying that. Instead, upon legal advice, we were working with the Office of Child Care to lift the suspension. On August 29, 2022, four weeks after corrections had been submitted, our attorney informed us that the OCC was finally working on a Compliance Agreement. I mention this date because this same day was the last day to apply for the latest Child Care Stabilization Grant. We did not receive the Compliance Agreement until August 30, 2022. The pace of the bureaucratic process took us out of the running for this grant. It could have awarded us more than $40,000 in funding.

After we reopened on September 14, 2022, we asked if we could be considered for this grant since the state took so long to deliver a Compliance Agreement. We were told that the state would not accept any late grant applications.

Grannie Annie’s financial health was already decimated by the Covid pandemic, which we could only survive with the previous Child Care Stabilization Grants and Paycheck Protection Program. Industry-wide, Child Care Centers operate on razor-thin margins, and we are no exception. We were lucky to have been at full enrollment for a couple of months before the suspension, so we were able to survive the two-month closure. But those two months cost us 77% of our enrollment.

Many parents wanted to return and it was a difficult decision for them. Their children had been abruptly disconnected once from their comfortable and familiar surroundings when the OCC suspended us. Many kids had just adjusted to their new surroundings when we were allowed to reopen. Two of our classrooms had new teachers. Why put the children through another transition in such a short period?

We are committed to rebuilding the Grannie Annie's family. We have started with our staff. We welcomed back many of our teachers, and hired a handful of our former employees (we really are a family here!). We are also welcoming new children into care every week. Growth is steady but will probably slow a bit during the holidays.

We are so thankful to be open again. Grannie Annie's has been a pillar of our community for two decades. Our future plans include MSDE Accreditation and partnership with the MSDE to be a community provider of public PreK. We have been here for more than one generation of children and strive to be here for more.

Thank you for taking the time to read our story. And thank you for considering a gift to help us navigate this difficult period. If you or someone you love has had a positive interaction with Grannie Annie's, you can show your thanks with a gift to help us sustain.