News

Imminent closing of daycare center forces parents to scramble for limited slots

By Amy McCraw, Associate Editor, Published: November 10, 2024

EAST FLAT ROCK — Leaders of a daycare center that leases its space from Hope United Methodist Church were dismayed when they learned last week that the church intends to evict them shortly after Christmas.

“I’m overwhelmed,” Terry Maybin, the director of Tomorrow’s Hope Daycare, said of the decision by the church to close the daycare on Dec. 31. “There’s no daycare spaces in Henderson County. Where are all these children going to go? I mean, Merry Christmas.”

In a letter to parents dated Nov. 4, Maybin and daycare board chairwoman Gale Hoots said they had received a certified letter from the church announcing that it was terminating the Tomorrow’s Hope lease. Parents had been preparing to find new slots for their children by next August, because Tomorrow’s Hope had decided last March that it would close then. The new date came as a shock to parents of the daycare’s kids.

“We have no answers to why the church has made this decision,” Maybin and Hoots told parents and guardians of the daycare children. “We met with an attorney this morning who is researching all possibilities. We will explore all options to extend our time for our children, parents and staff.”

Maybin and Hoots said they did not know the church intended to close the daycare by the end of the year until they received the letter from the church’s community board.

The letter dated Oct. 29, told the daycare it must leave the property by Dec. 31.

“The church and community board of Hope United Methodist Church met on Oct. 27, 2024 at 3 p.m. regarding the space the church rents to Tomorrow’s Hope on a month-to-month basis,” the church said in the letter. “The board voted unanimously to end this monthly rental with Tomorrow’s Hope. Kindly consider this letter as notice to vacate by December 31, 2024 at 5 p.m. At that time, the locks will be changed. We will be showing the space to additional renters, effective immediately. We will do so after your regular hours so as not to interrupt classes.”

The letter was sent over the names of seven community board members plus “2  unnamed members.” It did not explain why two members were unnamed.

Church Pastor Danielle Hammett in an email said the community board is a church and community committee. All members of the church are part of and invited to board meetings. “The community is involved as we have many community partners. Therefore, it is a combination,” she said in the email. 

Hoots regarded the eviction letter as “not in keeping with Christian principles.”

“There is almost a threatening tone. It’s mean-spirited,” she said. “It’s just a slap in the face and we don’t know why it was done.”

‘Regrettable impasse’

Hammett in her email response to questions from the Lightning said the community board with support from the church’s congregation voted unanimously to end the relationship with the daycare.

 “The church can no longer fully support the daycare center's utilization of its facilities and has reached a regrettable impasse,” she said. “The leadership of Hope UMC does not take this matter lightly, as we recognize how important childcare is to families. For this reason, we have provided Tomorrow's Hope with as much notice as possible so families and the leadership of Tomorrow's Hope can make the necessary plans for their situations.

“For many years Hope UMC has offered space for childcare in our community. We are thankful for the opportunity to have been a part of so many people’s lives in this way. We are saddened that this chapter in the church's ministry has reached its end. Even so, Hope UMC will remain faithful to our calling to minister to the East Flat Rock community and look forward to all God has in store for us in the future."

‘A huge slap in the face’

The daycare, which has operated in East Flat Rock for 25 years, informed parents in March that it intended to close in August 2025. The church, on Spartanburg Highway at West Blue Ridge Road next door to the daycare, leases the building to Tomorrow’s Hope.

In a letter in March informing parents of the decision to close, Hoots and Maybin said that the church’s relationship with the daycare had changed from one of ministry partners to a landlord/tenant situation. The church, the letter said, intended to expand services to homeless people on the property.

The daycare began phasing out its classes after making the decision to close and now serves 32 children, Maybin said.

Hoots said last week that rising costs associated with renting space for the daycare from the church also played a part in the daycare board’s decision to close the facility.

Leadership at the daycare set the 2025 closing date to give parents and staff time to find other child care and work options, she said.

Stephen Abel, the father of a 2-year-old who attends Tomorrow’s Hope, said the decision to close in December leaves his family and other parents in a bind.

"I truly feel for all of the kids, parents and staff at Tomorrow's Hope,” he said in an email. “We had already prepared for the facility to close in August 2025, but this cold message from the church, giving us all very little notice to find alternative childcare options, post Helene, during the holidays, is a huge slap in the face.

"It was already a huge relief to find Tomorrow's Hope after being on other waitlists for more than two years and now we have to scramble to find something else. And hiring a nanny is around four times the cost of daycare. If you can find one you can trust. There are many folks at the daycare that would not be able to afford that and are probably not on other waitlists. And as daycares operate on the school calendar, kids will not be aging out at other centers until at least summer 2025. So, while the August closing timeline was still sad, it would have been a lot more manageable than a Dec. 31 closing."

Hammett, the church minister, noted that the August 2025 closing had been set by the daycare board, not the church.

“The leadership of Tomorrow's Hope made the decision to close their program in the summer of 2025,” she said. “The church was not involved in that decision. The church, however, voted to end the rental of the space at the end of December.

“At the moment, there are no plans for the space that Tomorrow's Hope currently occupies,” she added. “Church leadership is prayerfully considering how it can be used for community ministry in the future."