New Uniondale Day Care Gives Families Another Child Care Option

UNIONDALE, NY — Special Treasures Day Care opened its new Uniondale home May 30, bringing families another child care option in the community and marking the fulfillment of a long-held dream for owner Linda Anderson.

The grand opening drew local officials, community members, family, friends and supporters to the new center, which Anderson said gives Special Treasures the room to serve more children and offer programs she could not provide from her previous home-based day care in West Hempstead.

“I opened up in West Hempstead about 11 years ago in my home, but it has always been my heart to have a larger facility to be able to serve more families and more children and to bring things into the community that I could not do in my home,” Anderson said.

Anderson said the Uniondale site took about 12 to 13 months to renovate. The center is located in a space previously housed by Sure Foundation Day Care and is connected to Grace Cathedral.

“When it was Sure Foundation, it was vital to the community, to the children, to resources for parents, and it was closed for so many years,” Anderson said to Patch. “Now I have the opportunity to pick up the mantle and be able to be a blessing to the community and the families, and to bring things into the community that I couldn’t do at my other location that our children need to be exposed to.”

“With the expenses of childcare and all the challenges that people are facing, it’s nice to have a beautiful facility that can care for your children in a safe environment, right here in the heart of Uniondale,” Nassau County Legislator Viviana Russell said to Patch. “There’s a need for child care, there’s a need for child care throughout Nassau County, and this is yet another great space that is going to ensure that our children have a place to come and parents have a place to be able to leave their children while they’re off at work or doing whatever they need to do during the day."

Long Island African American Chamber of Commerce Vice President and Uniondale resident Rose Ward said the center gives parents more options close to home. Ward said the location and size of the facility could help families who otherwise might have to travel farther for preschool or child care.

“I think it means a lot because they don’t have to travel that far, and because of the location, and because of the space, they can take on a lot of students of different age groups,” Ward said. “This used to be a daycare over 10 years ago, and it closed down, so to have Linda Anderson come in and open up Special Treasures in our neighborhood, I think this is a win situation for everyone involved.”

Anderson, who is a member of the Long Island African American Chamber and President of the West Hempstead Chamber of Commerce, said the larger facility allows Special Treasures to expand beyond traditional child care and potentially bring after-school programs and enrichment opportunities to Uniondale children.

She pointed to her grandson’s experience in a Brooklyn after-school drum program as an example of what exposure and programming can do for children.

“He started at six years old in an after-school program playing the drums, and that program has gone from an after-school program to now playing for halftime at the Nets,” Anderson said.

Anderson said she wants children in Uniondale to have access to those kinds of opportunities.

“In my heart, we can bring that here,” Anderson said. “Why can’t we have something like that for our children here? This space gives us the opportunity to do that.”