Couple saves preschool after seeing plea for help
A pair of angel investors have bought the old Riverside Scout Hall, and have further agreed to extend a long-term lease to the nonprofit Medicine Hat Community Preschool.
The preschool had approached the News earlier this year with the hopes of finding a new location in the city after its lease ran out in June. A story detailing the preschool’s plight ran on Jan. 25. At the time, the greatest hope of the preschool’s director Michelle May was someone would just buy their current building and let them stay.
“After the News story, a couple contacted us,” explains May. “After that it got a little more exciting.”
According to May, the couple which eventually bought the building wishes to remain anonymous. However, she is grateful and gratified the preschool was able to come to terms with them on a long-term lease.
“They had been looking for commercial property for a while but they needed it to be something they knew wasn’t going to go anywhere. When they read the story, and they heard us say ‘we would like to stay forever,’ they were pretty excited. And the whole deal was based on us agreeing to a lease.”
May and her staff are also excited to be staying in Riverside, and she knows local parents are relieved they will not lose another institution in the heart of their community, after already being dealt the blow of losing its local elementary school when the current school year ends.
“Everyone has just been figuring Riverside is on its way out, and we thought we were going to be gone too ... But we were saved,” says May.
The Medicine Hat Community Preschool cares for 40 kids on average in a day, and helps out several lower-income families with their daily childcare needs.