BY KAREN BOSSICK

The Nest, a new childcare center for infants ages three to 18 months, will open on Monday at Big Wood School.

The childcare center, which opens on Oct. 21, is the result of a joint effort involving the Church of the Big Wood, the Wood River Early Learning Collaborative and Spur Community Foundation to help address the need for infant child care in the Wood River Valley.

An open house will be held from noon to 1 p.m. Friday, Nov. 1.

Quality early learning programs for infants are especially in short supply, stressing out young families, said Kathryn Ivers, the project director for the Wood River Early Learning Collaborative. The collaborative was formed in Fall 2022 after members of the Wood River Women’s Foundation and others identified quality affordable child care as a key challenge facing young parents in the valley.

Childcare for infants is particularly tough to provide because of the caregiver-child ratio.

Discussions about a new childcare center began in January but were tabled a few months later because the costs of leasing and renovating a location were deemed exorbitant. But in August leaders of the Church of the Big Wood in Ketchum affirmed their commitment to making something happen by moving their church offices to offer a location for an infant center on site.

With the help of generous donors, the Spur Community Foundation was able to provide a grant covering the costs of renovations and equipment to make The Nest a reality.

“Never has ‘It takes a village’ rung more true,” said Kim Piggins, director of Big Wood School, which has long provided preschool for Wood River Valley youth.

This is the second infant child care opened this year.

The Advocates opened THRIVE Kids in June offering space for 30 children up to five years of age by converting client apartments in Hailey into an early learning center.

Want to learn more? The Spur Community Foundation will hold another of its Giving Thought Learning Series presentations on Nov. 12. This one will be titled “Hidden Crisis—Early Childhood Learning & Local Childcare.”

Learn more about the Wood River Early Learning Collaborative at https://www.wrelc.org/.