'We Care Daycare' set to open in Malta

In the next few weeks Malta will be home to a new daycare and preschool facility that will host around 40 kids yearly.

We Care Daycare is a full-time childcare facility, that will feature an in-house preschool as well as drop-in care for enrollees that do not need full time daycare services. We Care will also be certified by the State.

"The passion behind starting We Care Daycare is the need in Phillips County and Malta especially for working families," said Caitlin Anderson, founder and owner of We Care Daycare.

Anderson also went on to say that the group is passionate about making daycare affordable.

"I think that there is a lot of guilt when a mom is going back into the workforce and trying to better their family's financial position. It's hard not to be the one taking care of your children all day, every day," Anderson said. "We want to be able to provide affordable childcare and listen to the needs of the community."

After talking to many parents in the community that have been left in limbo by the lack of consistent daycare spots, Anderson tag teamed with local providers in the area to start We Care.

"I was fortunate to have an amazing provider in Akasha Latray," Anderson said. "She took care of my boys for the past three years and has recently moved out of the community and we have also lost other providers, so there is definitely a need for childcare in town."

Anderson has two sons Tryan and Taos that will be enrolled at We Care.

"A lot of us at We Care are moms and we are passionate about kids and we want to have a facility unlike any other on the Hi-Line and offer something really special to the kids and families," Anderson said.

After talking with local realtor Carly Bishop about possible school locations, Anderson set her sights on the old Malta Community Church building as the site for We Care. Anderson and the We Care team started the project last June.

"We shot them an offer and they accepted it and it has been full steam ahead since then," Anderson said. "The facility has undergone a huge transformation and I am really excited about the upgrades that we have done and the overall facelift of the building."

Despite being told that it would be easy to find a building but hard to find employees, We Care has been able to put together a staff of ten.

"People try to say Malta is dying but I think that is so false," said Anderson, who was born and raised in Malta. "You can see all of the young people moving back, starting families and there is a huge need for childcare. "We have a staff of ten amazing people who are passionate about kids and I can say Malta is not dying, it is thriving."

In addition to daycare in preschool services, We Care Daycare offers after-school care and an infant care area.

The lower level of the building will be the main education area of We Care, while the upstairs area will be used for the after-school program.

"We are really excited about the upstairs area because the winter months in Montana are really terrible and we are going to have a huge area for the kids to do activities throughout the day, when we aren't able to go outside."

Marcy Inman will be the Director for the We Care Facility. Bobbie Jo Martin will be the Main Teacher and Educator.

The daycare will operate from 6:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday to Friday, while the preschool will be open from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. noon from Monday to Thursday.

For more information on We Care Daycare please visit them on their Facebook page or call 406-309-1118.