The Gingerbread House Daycare has closed after operating for 36 years at 2000 El Lago Drive south of Arnold.
Karen McHughes, who had owned the Gingerbread House since 2005, said she had to close because she couldn’t find enough employees to staff the facility.
“This is a new phenomenon that we are going through,” said McHughes, who has worked in childcare for 42 years. “I have had hundreds of employees throughout the years, and if one left, you would replace them. It is not that way now. There is nobody to replace them with.”
McHughes, 60, said she had seven employees – including Debbie Russell, who had worked at the facility since it opened.
She said when it closed, the daycare enrolled about 32 children between 6 weeks and 12 years old.
“I’m concerned about my parents trying to find places, because the ones who have found new daycares tell me they got the last spot.”
McHughes said before the COVID-19 pandemic, 85 children were enrolled at the daycare, and she typically had 16 employees working there.
“I don’t know if it is because of the pandemic and people are staying home to get paid,” she said. “I don’t understand it. We could be busting at the seams right now. The phone was ringing off the hook. Everybody who called had at least two children they wanted to enroll.”
McHughes said she does not believe pay was the problem with attracting new employees.
“I was getting a lot of applicants who asked for minimum wage, and I would give them more than that. Then they wouldn’t show up the next day,” she said.
McHughes said she also struggled to attract qualified applicants for open positions, despite reaching out to colleges, work programs and advertising on various platforms.
“In the last six months, I had five people come interview for a job,” McHughes said. “Then they just didn’t show up, or you started their training and they didn’t come back.”
McHughes said she and her husband, Mike, a 60-year-old retired union plumber, tried to sell the daycare but could not find anyone to take over the business.
She said even with the federal government offering forgivable loans to purchase a business and providing funding to improve businesses, no one wanted to purchase the Gingerbread House.
“(The federal government) will give me money to get new equipment and improve the building, but you can’t get any employees,” McHughes said. “You can’t buy a business or expand your business because you can’t get employees.”
McHughes said she held a Last Hurrah party Nov. 17 before closing the Gingerbread House.
She said her staff members and families, along with former employees and families who had children attend the daycare, gathered for a final party at the facility.
“I didn’t want this legacy to just disappear,” McHughes said. “I wanted people to give it a proper goodbye.”
McHughes, the third owner of the Gingerbread House, said it was more than just a daycare.
In the past 16 years, the daycare adopted more than 30 families at Christmas, sent supplies to the USO, shipped treats overseas to members of the military on three occasions, helped support sports teams, donated items to the Arnold Food Pantry, sent thank-you cards and treats to the Rock Community Fire Protection District yearly and provided scholarships.
“Helping our community was so rewarding, and it saddens us greatly that we will no longer be a part of our families’ lives and our community,” she said. “I just feel like the community is losing a legacy.”
McHughes said she plans to take time off, but she does not anticipate retiring.
“I would like to work with an organization that trains childcare workers to train the next generation,” she said.