MILFORD —
The $4.2 million Good Shepherd
day care facility being built in
the Devon neighborhood will get
a $350,000 boost from state
funds.
In a joint
announcement this week, Gov. M.
Jodi Rell and House Speaker
James A. Amann, D-Milford, said
the money will be approved by
the state Bond Commission next
week.
“The $350,000
will go a long way in making
sure the people that need safe,
reliable day care will get it,”
Mayor James L. Richetelli said
Friday.
The center, based
at St. Peter’s Church,
accommodates about 50 children.
That will expand to 96 once the
new building is complete. The
building site is a 1.5 acre
parcel bought from St. Gabriel
Church.
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Eighty-five
percent of the families being
served earn less than 75 percent
of the state median income and
55 percent are single-parent
families.
The expansion was
prompted after church officials
asked the day care to find a new
home because the church needed
the space, according to Good
Shepherd Executive Director
Gloria Hayes.
Construction of
what state officials say will be
Connecticut’s first “green” day
care center. The day care center
is expected to be completed
within the next three months,
Amman said.
The new facility
will satisfy requirements for
obtaining a Leadership in Energy
and Environmental Design
certification. The new facility
is being built with federal and
state funds, as well as
community donations.
“Good Shepherd
has established itself as a
model for the type of childcare
services that working families’
depend upon each day, and now
they are also a model of energy
efficiency,” Amann said.
Richetelli
praised Hayes and members of
Good Shepherd’s board of
directors for their hard work in
seeing the construction through.
“It has been a
labor of love for a lot of
people,” Richetelli said. “So
many people have stepped up to
the plate.”
James Tinley
can be reached at jtinley@nhregister.com
or 401-3530.
