The Town of Midale broke ground for a new daycare facility on Monday as the community gets set to build the new centre this fall.

The project has been in the works for a couple of years, according to the project's secretary Kylie McGregor.

"We started this group interested in opening a daycare in Midale because of the lack of childcare for us within the town," McGregor said. "We started this group a couple years ago and started fundraising and we became incorporated, did all of the groundwork for that, applied for the government grant."

"We were approved for 40 spaces infant to pre-Kindergarten, and then we plan to add 15-20 school age spaces as well."

McGregor said they've already started a waiting list which is close to full.

The new centre will go on a lot near the school in town. The lot is over an acre in size, McGregor said.

She said the building should be delivered this fall and the hope is to open the facility in February of 2024.

The total estimated cost of the project is $1.1 million.

"We received the government grant for 40 spaces, and we have had a number of large and small donations come in after that," she said. "The R.M. of Cymri, they offered to give us an interest-free loan for the balance. So once the building gets here, then we'll kind of take a look at where we're at with that, and they've agreed to give us that mortgage, which we're very grateful for."

McGregor said Midale does not have an existing designated childcare space and so there was a real need in the community for a new childcare centre.

"This is completely new...there was only a few small day homes in Midale," McGregor said. "People thought we were crazy right off the bat with 40 spaces and then 20 school age spaces, but almost all of those spaces are filling up at this point."

"And there's waitlists in Weyburn and Estevan as well. A lot of families that work in the bigger centres, they aren't able to find daycare even in those areas either. So it'll just be nice to have our Midale families be able to have their kids close to home and not be travelling on icy roads in the winter time and all of that."

She said there are people on the Midale waiting list who are from Estevan and Weyburn.

McGregor added that the new centre will make a difference for local families.

"For many families, including my own, it was a really stressful thing not having a daycare available to us," said McGregor, who has two young daughters. "And reaching out to other areas to try and get our girls into daycare. And I know there's a lot of families in town that it's not feasible for them to go back to work, like a working mom or dad. It's not feasible and this being a funded space, it'll definitely be way more affordable."

"But even just the fact that it's here at all, that means that a lot more families will be able to return to being a dual income household. And if that's what they choose, that's just the right decision for a lot of families, and I know it'll just help our community here be more prosperous."