Bob Freedman, CEO of the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg has told the Winnipeg Jewish Review that plans are underway to add on an additional 6000 sq feet to the  ground level of the Asper Jewish Community Campus to add  up to 79  daycare spaces  to the  Kaufman Day Care run by the Rady JCC, which currently is licensed to provide child care for 113  children. As well the plans include the possibility of adding on a second level to house additional classrooms for the  Gray Academy.

 According to Gayle Waxman, Executive Director of the Rady JCC, the Rady JCC submitted a proposal to the provincial government to develop the additional spaces to meet the community demand for licensed childcare.  Last spring, the Rady JCC received word that that the proposal was accepted and that the Rady JCC was awarded $325,000 toward construction.  Assuming that the new daycare meets all licensing requirements, the Rady JCC would then be provided with an operating grant for the new spaces. 

“We currently have a waiting list of over 500 children.  The Rady JCC Board of Directors was most concerned about the size of the waitlist and fully supported submitting a proposal to the government when the call was made.  Needless to say it was great news to find out that we were awarded the grant and that we would be able to meet such a strong need in our community.  We have received tremendous support from the community and Federation who have shown strong commitment to the young families in our community.  It speaks so well of our community that Federation is helping us make this second site a reality.

Freedman said that the daycare will no doubt be welcomed by the community. The additional 6000 square feet will be on land currently occupied by the school playground.

"We see this daycare need as a positive sign for our growing community and we anticipate that in the future this will mean that the Gray Academy will require additional space as its enrollment is likely to grow," Freedman said.

The price tag for the the additional space will be  "2 million dollars" for the add and Freedman says "The Rady JCC already received the first pledge from the government of Manitoba which will be contributing $325,000 for the expansion plans." However, the provincial funding is contingent upon the daycare’s completion within two years.

The Rady JCC anticipates that construction of the new facility will begin sometime in the spring of 2012 to meet the provincial timelines.

The construction of the new facility will begin as soon as the financial commitments are in place.

"We have started to approach select donors for this project", he says, adding that potential donors will be taken on a walk through during the week of Dec 12th."

According to Freedman, the Rady JCC first began discussions with Ohr Hatorah and Herzalia to look at developing the new daycare at the synagogue, however that was not feasible.  However, the Ohr Hatorah board did transfer its licensed spaces to the Kaufman daycare at the Rady .  Waxman added that the Rady was able to add an additional 16 spaces transferred from Ohr Hatorah this year at the existing Kaufman Child Care Centre location on Campus. 

As has been reported previously in the Winnipeg Jewish Review  once the Herzlia was ruled out as an option, the Asper Campus bid unsuccessfully  on  a  the former  Canada postal depot at the corner of Willow and Kenaston

Freedman is optimistic that the 2 million dollar campaign will be successful.

Any future addition to the Gray Academy would be an additional sum, on top of the 2 million dollar campaign.

Anyone interested in making  financial contributions for the construction of the  new daycare can contact Freedman.