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The Gingerbread House- Licensed Group Child Care
Walking into the home, you see happy faces and sounds of laughter. The GingerBread House is a family child care home run by Ellen Lenard and her daughter, Violet Lenard, in Kansas City, Kansas.
Ellen has been a child care provider since 1998. Today, she has 3 family child care homes that she operates in Kansas City, Kansas.
How did Ellen become a family home provider? From 1990 to 1994, Ellen worked for the Kansas City Missouri School District and USD 500 school district as a substitute and also a kindergarten aide. “Those kindergarteners helped show me what I wanted to do.” Ellen became hooked and, with the arrival of her first grandchild, she knew what she wanted to do. She became a family child care provider. Ellen has 5 employees who work at her 3 homes: Kim Weaver and Violet Lenard work with her full-time and Roosevelt Scover, Shuron Kendall and Myrtle Johnson work with her part-time. Ellen and her employees go above and beyond what the Kansas Department of Health and Child Care Licensing requires them to do in receiving child care clock hours. Ellen has about 20 clock hours and her other employees have as many, if not more. Ellen's daughter, Violet, is returning to school and has a full day, working from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and then going to school in the evenings.
On top of being a business owner, Ellen has also donated the lot that is right next door to her home to the Outdoor Learning Environment in Wyandotte County, currently underway through the Kansas City Kansas Community College. The park will be a wonderful addition to Wyandotte County when it is completed, being available to children from birth to age 5. The Outdoor Learning Environment will help children from all over Wyandotte County learn about their environment in a beautiful, peaceful setting.
“It is a joy to watch these babies grow. I get a lot out of child care,” Ellen tells us. “The hugs make it worth it!” When asked what she likes best about doing child care, she says, “Helping the parents and caring for their children. I hope that they have peace of mind when leaving their children with us.”
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