Church of the Living God and Angel Care Preschool & Child Care have announced a new fundraising effort intended to help convert space at the church into a compliant child care center.

Last fall, Garfield Township planning commissioners approved a special use permit for Angel Care to open a new facility inside the existing Church of the Living God building, located on Birmley Road. Angel Care had announced earlier in 2024 that it would be vacating its space on Hastings Street, which it had long leased from the Father Fred Foundation. Angel Care plans to open a child care center at Living God that will accommodate up to 60 children, from newborn infants up to age 12.

Now, Angel Care and the church are seeking assistance from the general public to help pay for what organizational leaders say will be a costly process of converting the church space into a licensed daycare center.

“The new location offers long-term stability and room to grow, but significant upgrades are needed to Church of the Living God to bring the building up to code for daycare use,” the two entities announced in a press release earlier this week. “These include multiple new exit doors to comply with fire codes and the construction of an ADA-compliant sidewalk, among other necessary renovations to make the building work for the appliances needed to run a daycare with infants, toddlers, and preschool-aged children.”

Angel Care and Living God estimate that the total cost of retrofitting the space “to bring it up to the strict licensing requirements for a child care center” will be $150,000. Per the release, the parties will use a mix of grants, loans, savings, and community support to pay for the project. In pursuit of that community support, the organizations have now launched an online donation portal and are encouraging “donations from individuals, businesses, and community members to help fund this critical work.”

“As a community, the need for quality daycare is absolutely essential,” said Anthony Weber, pastor at Church of the Living God. “We are working hard to make an older building comply with codes that are quite different from when we first built it.”