Soda Springs parents ‘hoping for a miracle’ as local daycare nears closure

SODA SPRINGS – Parents are “hoping for a miracle” as a beloved daycare prepares to close its doors, due in part to some of them not paying their bills.

The last day of operation of Rise and Shine Childcare, one of only two daycare centers in Soda Springs, will be March 28. Parents who have relied on the daycare are working on finding new arrangements.

“I mean, they’re all hoping for a miracle. That’s what they tell us. ‘We’re hoping for a miracle, that you’ll be able to start back up and we can bring our kids back,’” said Brenda Pierson, one of the childcare providers and mother to the owner, Amanda Attebury.

Attebury opened Rise and Shine in July 2021, but she’d been wanting to open a daycare for close to 30 years before that.

“It was the midst of COVID, the very beginning of it, and I was like, ‘All these people that still have to work kind of need childcare.’ So we decided we were going for it,” Attebury said.

Rise and Shine cares for 35 to 40 kids per day between 5 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. The daycare watches children from 8 weeks to 12 years old.

Attebury said that although the parents she’s talked to have been understanding of her situation, they’re “devastated” by the upcoming closure.

“They completely understand, but it’s devastating. They’ve had to scramble and try and find somebody to watch their children that they can actually trust,” Attebury said.

With Rise and Shine Childcare closing, it leaves The Creative Center for Children as the only daycare center in all of Soda Springs, with a maximum capacity of 50 children. While it may have some space available on certain days due to some kids not attending every day, it has no full-time slots available, and 13 children are on the waiting list.

The nearest daycare center outside of Soda Springs is Creative Minds Daycare in Montpelier, which is around a half-hour drive one way, which means parents are going to and from Soda Springs for two hours every day.

Jeana Mayne, who has four kids attending Rise and Shine, two part time and two full time, is weighing options for what to do once Rise and Shine closes. She has them on the waitlist for the Creative Center and has searched for someone who offers in-home daycare. In the meantime, either she or her husband will have to travel 20 minutes one way to a family member’s home.

And Mayne said her family faces further difficulties as they search for a new daycare option.

“(Rise and Shine has) the experience to take care of my child, who has a little bit higher needs,” Mayne said. “(He) needs a little bit more attention and somebody with the ability to understand him, and Amanda had had that and was able to help him stay regulated throughout the day with that compassion.”

Why Rise and Shine is going dark

Rise and Shine is closing for a number of reasons, but the two main ones Attebury cited are grant funding from the state becoming unavailable and parents with past-due balances not paying their bills.

Attebury has had to send nearly 25 past-due balances to her collections attorney, with a number of parents “ghosting” her since she announced the upcoming closure on March 4.

Rise and Shine has received a variety of responses from parents when Attebury and Pierson have asked why they haven’t paid their bill.

“‘I got behind on this bill,’ or ‘I had to pay rent,’ or ‘It’s Christmas.’ That’s a huge one,” Pierson said. “I have explained to them, ‘The reason you have the job is because we watch your children. You have somebody that will watch your children.’ And we provide a home-like environment.

“We love our children. We take very good care of them. We make sure they have good, well balanced meals, and they have still stated to me, ‘I know, but you’re on the bottom of my list.’”

Attebury has even seen people with past-due balances while she’s been out and about.

“A lot of them pretend like they don’t owe us money,” Attebury said.

While Pierson was retired when they started Rise and Shine, Attebury will have to find a new job after they close, one that is “going to take me away from my family,” Attebury said.

Mayne finds it “disheartening” to know that some of the parents contributed to the position Rise and Shine is in.

“I understand you may not be able to pay your bill, but when you still keep accepting the service … it’s very disheartening, because then it puts everybody in this position,” Mayne said. “These ladies, they truly cared about these kids, and you wouldn’t have any worries about leaving your kids and knowing that they were going to be loved and taken care of. And so the fact that that’s going away is really sad.”

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