Getting good child care has been notoriously difficult in Fort Dodge for years. Simply put, the number of kids in need of child care far exceeds the number of available spots in local child care centers.

An organization called Linking Families and Communities has worked diligently to bring more child care options into the community. At the beginning of this year, it made a major step toward doing so by buying a building that will be turned into the Sprouts Early Education and Development School. The property is located at 407 Kenyon Road. A lot of people likely remember it as one of the Becker Florist locations.

Now that it has the building, Linking Families and Communities can start turning it into the facility the community needs. But doing so will not be cheap.

Nestle Purina PetCare has stepped up to help.

The company has donated $25,000 to Linking Families and Communities to assist with the project.

That is a big boost for the effort.

It is hardly the first time the company has made a significant donation to important causes or needs in our community.

Since 2017, Nestle Purina PetCare has contributed to the renovation of the emergency room at UnityPoint Health — Trinity Regional Medical Center, the acquisition of police K–9 Draco, the effort to buy a new linear accelerator for Trinity Cancer Center and the purchase of a van for the Almost Home Humane Society of North Central Iowa. Along the way it also made a generous donation to the Fort Dodge Community Foundation’s COVID–19 Disaster Fund. And those are just the big, recent donations.

Nestle Purina PetCare has long been a mainstay in the local economy. The company and its employees have been involved in lots of initiatives to support the community.

We’re pleased and thankful to have such a community–minded corporation here.

We’re also happy to see Linking Families and Communities making real progress to bring more child care to Fort Dodge.