May 8, 2023, started out as an ordinary day for the Bickford family. That afternoon, Anneka Bickford was taking one of her sons to baseball practice when she got a phone call from her daughter Ashley with shocking news: Their child care center was on fire.
The Stay & Play Child Care Center was located in a renovated 1800s house in Lyndonville, Vermont, where more than 30 children spent their days learning and playing. But when a neighbor’s truck caught fire that day, high winds spread the flames to the neighbor’s house, then to the child care center. After firefighters extinguished the four-alarm blaze, the neighbor’s house was completely destroyed and nothing but the frame of the center remained—the rest gutted by fire, smoke, and water damage.
“It’s funny how things change in just a matter of minutes,” said Anneka. “We lost everything.”
Thankfully, no one was injured in the fire. The neighbor’s pets escaped safely, too. But the neighbor and the tenant of the apartment above the center lost their homes, and dozens of children and families were suddenly at risk of losing their child care.
Anneka Bickford has been working as a child care professional for more than 20 years, and her daughter Ashley has worked with her for most of her adult life—starting by cleaning the kitchen as a high schooler and later earning her bachelor’s degree in human services with a concentration in early education. In 2021, Ashley became the director of the child care center, while her mother also continues to work full-time at the center as the owner.
A Temporary Solution
Together, the Bickfords were back to providing child care only a few days after the fire—but their temporary setup was challenging and exhausting. Anneka and Ashley each hosted half of the children at their own homes, but they live several towns apart, so this took many van trips to make transportation possible. The space was smaller than the center, and the Bickfords had lost all of the high-quality supplies, toys, and comfort items that had outfitted their building. The temporary arrangement of offering child care from their homes also made it difficult to retain important staff members.
Despite the loss and struggle to recover, the family persevered because they knew that children and families needed them. “When the building went up in fire, I was thinking that perhaps it was time for me to retire,” Anneka said. “But it came down to the fact that our community could not absorb these children—there were no [other child care] slots for these children to go to. And those parents have to work.”
Rebuilding With Help From the Community
The community stepped up in a remarkable way to support Stay & Play and the others affected by the 2023 fire. Local families and businesses donated toys, changing tables, books, blankets for naptime, and more for the child care. State grant support helped with rebuilding the center, and BBF’s Vermont Early Childhood Fund (VECF) grant program is also supporting the center.
The VECF grant “really completed our program,” Anneka said. It allowed the center to purchase high-quality art supplies, books, dolls, play kitchen food, and more, “all the little things you don’t think about until you’re ready to open.” In addition, the VECF grant is supporting two new staff members, including a head teacher. “It was perfect timing and it’s been such a great asset to have,” said Anneka.
The process of rebuilding was not easy, even with this strong support. The Bickfords dealt with construction delays, juggling happy life events like Ashley’s wedding, and having to restart the licensing process essentially from scratch.
The Grand Opening
On June 2, 2024, Stay & Play Child Care held an open house to welcome children and families to their brand-new location. Just up the hill from where the fire took place, a one-story building with sage-green siding and cheerful baskets of flowers was designed with the children’s needs in mind, with features such as built-in cubbies, handwashing sinks at a reachable height for young children, and a new playground.
The families who attended the open house “couldn’t even believe their eyes” when they saw the new building, Ashley said. “‘Oh my gosh, wow!’ was all we heard all night.”
“The kids fit in the classroom perfectly [and] they were engaged in the materials we provided—it’s so rewarding to see staff and children in the classroom,” Anneka added.
Gratitude and Growth
The center’s capacity has expanded and they are now at full enrollment with 49 children, ages 6 weeks to 12 years old. Not only is Stay & Play able to educate more children at their new building, but they’ve been able to restart their school-age program for ages 5 through 12. The center operates year-round, five days a week, from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
In the near future, Stay & Play is working to become licensed for universal pre-K, as they had been before the fire.
The message the Bickfords want to emphasize above all is how deeply grateful they are. ”We could not have done what we’ve done without the support of the community and the grants,” Anneka said.
The next application period for VECF grants will open on Aug. 12, 2024. More information will be available on our website on Aug. 1, including registration for grant information sessions being held on Wednesday, Aug. 14.
