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Canton Day Care Center Partners with Family Foundation to Raise $40,000 by April 15 for Expansion Project

Posted 2/17/18

CANTON -- The Thompson-Weatherup Family Charitable Foundation, now a component fund of the Northern New York Community Foundation (NNYCF), will match dollar-for-dollar contributions up to $20,000 by …

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Canton Day Care Center Partners with Family Foundation to Raise $40,000 by April 15 for Expansion Project

Posted

CANTON -- The Thompson-Weatherup Family Charitable Foundation, now a component fund of the Northern New York Community Foundation (NNYCF), will match dollar-for-dollar contributions up to $20,000 by April 15, from individuals and families to the Canton Day Care Center for its capital expansion project.

The Center is raising funds to build out its second floor in order to double its capacity and better meet the community’s demand for a safe, healthy, and nurturing childcare environment for children ages 6 weeks to 12 years old.

The Thompson-Weatherup Family Charitable Foundation was established in 2005 to help foster a sustainable future for people and places in northern New York, principally St. Lawrence County. Since then, the large extended family of Robert M. and Esther Weatherup Thompson, through the foundation, has supported scholarships for graduating seniors in several high schools in St. Lawrence County; fellows at St. Lawrence University; nursing students at SUNY Canton; early childhood education students at SUNY Potsdam; and programs of the Canton Day Care Center, Traditional Arts in Upstate New York, and the St. Lawrence County Historical Association.

Now affiliated with the NNYCF, the foundation is once again supporting the Canton Day Care Center in loving memory of Esther Weatherup Thompson, who passed away on July 26, 2017. Esther was a resident of the United Helpers Maplewood Campus in Canton for six years, and while there she enjoyed watching children, including a great-grandson, play and grow at the adjoining Canton Day Care Center.

As a fund of the NNYCF, the family foundation is no longer restricted to raising monies from family members only. Therefore, the family is challenging community members who value the Canton Day Care Center and/or quality day care more generally to support the capital campaign with contributions of any amount.

Esther’s husband, Bob, said “my wife was born and raised in Rensselaer Falls, the daughter of a dairy farmer and a school teacher. Education was an important focal point in her upbringing. Esther’s decision in 1941 to enroll in Canton Agricultural and Technical Institute demonstrated the personal value she placed on improving oneself through education. In 1944, when we married, her life’s work as a mother, homemaker, and informal educator to our children and others began.”

All who have known Esther and Bob Thompson know they consistently emphasized the value of education to their ten children - who were born over an eighteen year period, graduated from Lisbon Central School, and went on to graduate from various colleges and universities in the United States to pursue their careers.

The family-owned and -operated dairy farm enterprise fostered and funded much of the undergraduate and graduate college educations of their children—a grand total of fifty-five years of tuition paid to many colleges and universities. For many years, Esther and Bob served as 4-H club leaders, informally educating young 4-H members – Esther in clothing and food projects, and Bob in dairy farming.

Contributions made by individuals to the Canton Day Care Center by April 15, will be matched dollar-for-dollar up to $20,000, with a goal of raising $40,000 total. Those interested can mail a check to Canton Day Care Center, 205 State Street Rd, Canton, NY 13617, or can make a donation online via credit card at www.cantondaycarecenter.org/give. For more information about the capital expansion project, please visit www.cantondaycarecenter.org/expansion or call (315) 379-1829.