WASHINGTON — More than a month after a gas explosion forced a southeast DC day care center to move, the owner is still searching for a permanent home.
On January 18, a gas leak caused an explosion on the 1200 block of Marion Barry Avenue SE, which destroyed a convenience store and rendered the Baby Einstein Child Development Center uninhabitable.
The silver lining was that Snead and her staff evacuated the children as soon as they learned about the gas leak, so they were not inside when the explosion occurred.
Since then, however, owner Regina Snead has been searching for a new home for the kids she serves.
Snead, a former DCPS teacher and school psychologist, said community leaders, local businesses, and neighbors have helped raise nearly $70,000 to help pay for one, but she hopes to triple that number to afford a new center.
She estimates that she will need $250,000 to afford a down payment on a new center and necessary renovations to bring it up to code.
"The biggest challenge is making sure that it's something that's suitable for childcare. In addition, if we find something, we have to do renovations to make sure that it has all of the things that childcare needs, like certain amount of sinks and toilets and handicap accessible, we have to do all of those renovations," Snead said. "So that's why it's so important to continue to raise funds for it. It's not just going into a building and we have a space to operate out of. We have to do a lot of renovations and making sure we're up to code."
Snead has also been looking to make sure the center is near the old space, which was located on the 1200 block of Marion Barry Ave SE so that it's still accessible to the families they serve.
At the time of the explosion, Snead said they were looking after 32 kids, though the center was licensed for 52.
When they moved to their current temporary location, she said they had to whittle that group down to 20 students, because that's all the new space could accommodate -- and some families couldn't reach the new space easily, either.
She hopes to re-recruit them once they find a more convenient temporary home.
“I want to make sure we continue to serve our community," Snead said. "This is a community-based business. We serve the people in the community. We've served members that work in the community, and we want to make sure we stay in position. Children need quality childcare.”
To this day, Snead said she hasn't been able to even get inside the old center to see what might be salvageable.
Still, she has to pass by it nearly every day as she heads to the temporary location.
“I really don't know how to explain how I feel," Snead said. "I just really want to get back to normal, just be able to go into the building, work out of the building. But we're still at a standstill; we haven't been able to enter the building. It's still boarded up. “
She said they will be able to stay in the temporary location for about three more months, so she's hoping to raise enough money for a new center by then.
If you want to help, you can donate here.
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