While many community organizations are working on solutions to that problem, one local church is getting closer to its goal of alleviating some of that need.

Last year, St. Olaf Lutheran Church received a $687,000 grant from the state of Iowa to fund a new childcare center in the church building.

“We knew that we have a lot of space in our building that isn’t utilized very much during the week and so we started the process of looking at what are the different things we would have to do,” the Rev. Emily Sauer, the church’s pastor, said at the time.

That initial grant helped St. Olaf hire Daycare Director Kathy Dencklau and establish the church’s daycare in the spring of 2022. For now, the daycare only serves about half a dozen children, but as the renovations on the church’s education wing on the south side of the building are completed, that number will expand to around 60 kids before ballooning to up to 200 kids.

“There’s a lot of remodeling that needs to be done,” Sauer said.

Sauer said the church has been working with Allers Associates Architects, of Fort Dodge, in designing the master plan for the project.

The first phase of the project includes renovating the three-story education wing on the south end of the church building. The wing was built in the 1970s and much of its structure is outdated, Sauer said. Currently, the space is not handicap accessible and does not have an HVAC system. In the summers, the rooms are cooled by window air conditioning units.

The fire alarms and fire sprinkler system also need to be updated, and the first phase will also include improvements to the restrooms on the upper levels and construction of an outdoor playground.

Over the last several months, the church has led a capital campaign to collect the funds needed to renovate the church’s old education wing to be used as a daycare center. According to Capital Campaign Assistant Kim Peimann, just under $2.5 million has been raised through the “Investing in Our Future” campaign.

More than 70 volunteers helped with the effort and more than 114 church members made gift commitments to the campaign.

“This church feels that this is our calling, to make our community better,” Sauer said. “And I believe that’s how we were able to raise that amount — they started to see their purpose is more than just being a worshiping place.”

Sauer and Peimann said they were blown away by the support the project has received from the St. Olaf congregation.

Now, the church is looking toward the greater Fort Dodge community for help reaching its initial goal of $3 million to complete the first phase of the project.

“We’ll be happy and thankful for whatever we can get, but the $3 million will get us through phase one without any debt,” Sauer said. “We won’t have to take out loans or a mortgage.”

Peimann said that in recent years, the church’s education wing hasn’t been used as much as it had in the past, but this project will bring new life into the space.

“It will be very, very exciting to see little kids in there again,” she said.

Another motivation Sauer had for starting the church daycare was that the church at 239 N. 11th St. is located in a low-income area and some parents may not have the ability to drive across town to take their child to daycare. With St. Olaf’s location within walking distance of DART bus stops, the daycare can be more accessible for parents in the neighborhood, she said.

“The idea is to help lift up women that are in need as well,” she said.

After the first phase is complete, St. Olaf plans to move onto the second phase, which includes constructing a new entrance and director’s offices for the daycare, an elevator, as well as a drop-off lane and a handicap accessible covered church entry on the west side of the main church building.

“This has truly joined our church together to work for a good purpose,” Sauer said. “It made our church feel alive again and excited about the future and to see people working together for the common good, because I think we get bogged down by politics in the church and that kind of stuff. This is a positive thing, instead of divisive.”