For 30 years, I have  served families and our community and opened doors to children whose parents had to leave them in someone else’s care so they could go to work.

And behind every child has been a parent who trusted me with the most important thing in their world.

Their child.

I have built my life around caring for children and supporting the working families of our community. This daycare isn’t simply where I go to work every morning.

This is my life’s work. It is something I have poured my heart into. And it’s a place where I have built incredible friendships with families.

And today, for the first time, I am asking my community to help me protect it.

So many years of little hands reaching for mine.

3 decades of - first days, first words, birthday celebrations, scraped knees, stories, hugs, tears, laughter, teaching, love, memories, years of parents pulling into the parking lot in the early morning hours, trusting me with the most precious thing in their entire world. Their most prized possessions.

I have always made  one promise to every family who walks through my doors:

Your child will ALWAYS be loved and cared for here.  And every family I served would agree.

This has never felt like simply a business or any “job”  to me.

It is a responsibility I have always carried in my heart. And it is where I am needed.  I know that when a parent drops their child off in the morning, they aren’t just dropping off a child. They are trusting someone else so they can go to work, earn a paycheck, pay their bills, put food on the table, and provide a better life for their family.

I know what dependable child care means to a working parent. And I also know what losing that child care could mean.

That is why, even when things became harder for me financially, I continued trying to make things easier for the families who depended on me.

I have not raised my weekly tuition rates.  I am one of very few, that is in the low scale.  $150 - For 50 weekly hours of service, home cooked breakfast, Lunch, and Snack

No increase- Not through COVID.

Not through inflation.

Not while insurance, taxes, food, utilities, supplies, maintenance, and virtually every other operating expense continued to rise.

I made that decision because I knew that every increase I passed along would land on a family who was already trying to stretch every dollar.

And some of those families have needed more than just affordable tuition.  Many have been a single income parent, a single parent in general, some that get little to no state assistance, some had major health or medical emergency. So many other situations.

What they  needed was compassion. And through it all- I give it.

Over the years, when parents experienced serious financial hardship, I have personally stepped in and eliminated or reduced their weekly child care payments when I was able to do so.  If they needed help after day care hours- I give it.   Providing transportation ,  taking kids on weekends or after hours at no extra charge.  I have been the supporter they needed for many reasons.  All at no extra charge- and I would do it again and again and again.

I’ve done it because I couldn’t look at a struggling family/parent, and see only a bill.

I saw a family. I saw a mother trying to make it on one income. I saw a father trying to keep his job. I saw parents trying to keep a roof over their children’s heads and food on their tables. And I knew that sometimes, helping that family meant helping them keep their child in care.

Today, many families who rely on child care assistance are facing their own challenges. Kansas Child Care Assistance helps qualifying working families pay part of their child care costs, but eligibility and benefit amounts depend on family circumstances, and assistance is subject to available funding.

For a single parent already struggling to make ends meet, even the portion of child care they are responsible for can be overwhelming.

That is why keeping my tuition affordable has always mattered so much to me.  
I don’t want a parent to have to choose between paying their child care bill and buying groceries.

I don’t want a single parent to wonder whether if they  can afford to keep working because she can’t afford the care that allows her to work. I don’t want a family to lose the stability their child has known simply because life became financially difficult.

For 30 years, I have tried to be part of the answer.

Now, I am asking my community to help me continue.

The burden I am struggling to carry alone.

The hardest part of telling this story is admitting that after giving so much of myself to this community for so many years, I am now the one who needs help.

I have worked incredibly hard to build a licensed child care business that families can trust.

I have invested in my building. And I put my entire savings into it. I have invested in equipment.

I have invested in creating a safe, nurturing environment for children.

I have continued operating through some incredibly difficult years. Covid being a big one. When everything was closing down- I remained open.

And I have kept my tuition rates affordable because I believed that families needed that commitment.

But there is one burden that continues to hold this daycare back: My business loan.   A remaining balance of $15,000.

I am trying to raise $20,000 to pay off this debt, make repairs, and replace some needed items.

Paying off this loan would change the future of this daycare.

Imagine what it would mean if that monthly payment disappeared.

Instead of sending money toward debt every month, I could put that money back into the daycare, and help the famines that need it. It could help cover rising insurance costs.

It could help with taxes, food, supplies, maintenance, equipment, and the countless expenses required to keep a licensed daycare operating and running.

And perhaps most importantly, it would give me the financial breathing room to continue doing what I have done for so many years: HELPING FAMILIES WHEN THEY NEED IT MOST.

It would eliminate a monthly payment that could instead be used for the things that actually matter to the children and families I serve. Most importantly, it would give me the breathing room to continue doing what I have spent 30 years doing: Providing dependable, affordable child care to working families.

I am not asking for help because I want to walk away.

I am asking for help because I want to stay.

I want to keep opening those doors every morning.

I want to keep welcoming those little faces.

I want to keep giving parents a safe place to bring their children while they go to work.

I want to keep helping families when life unexpectedly knocks them down.

And I want to make sure this place can continue serving the community for years to come.

Every little bit helps.

Our goal is $20,000.

If you can donate $5, $10, $25, $50, or more, every dollar brings us closer.

And if you cannot donate, please share our story.

You never know who might see it.

You never know which person might understand exactly what affordable child care means to a working family. And you never know when one small act of kindness might help keep a dream alive.

I have never asked for help like this. But-

Today, I am asking for yours.

Help me protect the daycare that has served all all the families with protecting, nurturing, and caring for the children of our community.

Help me pay off this loan.

Help me keep tuition affordable.

Help me continue helping families through hardship.

Help me continue providing a place where working parents can say: “My child is safe. My child is loved. I can go to  work!!”

Thank you for believing in me, believing in this daycare, and believing that every working family deserves access to safe, dependable child care.

With all my heart,

Kelly King

Founder , owner, and operator at Open Arms Child Care.

If you would like to help- donation is available through Giveahand.com

Or you can contact

Peoples Bank & Trust ( Hutchinson Kansas ) 

+1 (620) 663-4000

1020 N Main St

Ste 1

Hutchinson, KS  67501

United States

To make a donation to

Open Arms Child Care