YMCA’s Edward and Jeanne Arnold Early Learning Center celebrates 10 years

The Lebanon Valley Family YMCA’s Edward and Jeanne Arnold Early Learning Center is celebrating 10 years of serving the local community by offering childcare to around 1,000 children from 6 weeks to 5 years old.

An anniversary event, originally planned for Sept. 25 but postponed due to rain, was held Thursday, Oct. 23, at the learning center. An afternoon ceremony was followed by a kid-oriented event complete with bounce house and food, music, and other fun events.

Amy Pennycoff, YMCA director of community engagement, said the event was planned as a thank you to everyone who has contributed to the center’s success.

“It’s our way of saying thank you,” she said. “Thank you to the families for giving us this opportunity to care for their kids. Thank you to the staff for being invested in our program and being committed to educating kids in our community.”

The idea for the Arnold Early Learning Center started over 10 years ago when the YMCA’s childcare center was run out of a church on 9th Street. Pennycoff said they found chipping lead paint and made the decision to immediately move the children out of the building.

They temporarily moved childcare to the main YMCA building while they considered next steps and began fundraising. A $500,000 donation by the Arnolds covered half of project costs, according to Lebanon Daily News coverage at the time it opened in 2015.

“We started working to come up with a solution. How are we going to continue to provide care for families in our community, and how’s that going to look?” Pennycoff said. “That’s when we started reaching out to potential donors and coming up with a plan that we were going to build our own childcare center.”

She said there’s always been a “huge need” in the Lebanon County community for childcare, and the YMCA has, at times, struggled to meet the demand. The Arnold Center always has a waiting list, she said, and there’s sometimes a challenge to find enough qualified staff members.

While there is a cost for children to attend, the YMCA also accepts ELRC government assistance and offers assistance of its own.

“One of the great things about our center is it serves a huge variety of families,” Pennycoff said. “We have families that bring their kids to the center who are full-paying families, and we have families who are on what’s called ELRC government assistance, so they get financial assistance for their childcare. The Y also offers financial assistance for families who are kind of in that income bracket that is right above the ELRC, but it is still something that they cannot afford, so it’s a huge combination.”

She said more than half the families at the center received some type of financial assistance to cover the childcare costs.

For the YMCA, this level of accessibility is important.

“The Y has been the leading childcare provider in Lebanon County for a lot of years — just looking at our center and our before- and after-school programs — and so we really take a lot of pride in that,” Pennycoff said. “It is so vitally important to ensure that every child, no matter where they come from, what their background is, what their family’s financial abilities are, has the opportunity to attend a quality early learning program to get them ready and prepared to enter the school system.”

Lebanon YMCA CEO Phil Tipton highlighted the importance of early learning for the entire family. He said it helps the children start developing social skills and gives guardians extra flexibility in their schedules.

“The sooner they can get in a structured program, kids start learning how to get in line, how to listen, how to get along with each other, and play fairly. It starts at a very early age,” Tipton said. “Plus, parents need a place that they can trust and rely on so that they themselves can work if they want to.”

Pennycoff said she’s looking forward to what the next 10 years of the Edward and Jeanne Arnold Center can do. Tipton is looking even further into the future and reaffirmed the YMCA’s goal of improving the area.

“The YMCA has been here for over 100 years, and I certainly hope we’re here for another 100,” Tipton said. “I think what we do at the YMCA is we have great relationships and we have a very strong board, great staff, and so as we see or hear that there may be a need in the community and the YMCA can help, we certainly want to be there — not only sitting at the table, but be able to be part of the solution.”