By Kelly Youngblood
Editor’s Note: Savoy Recreation Center will NO LONGER offer Snow Daze Kids Club in 2019.
When the Savoy Recreation Center decided to start offering drop-in child care on snow days, it was considered an “experiment.”
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Three years later, the Snow Daze Kidz Club is still going strong.
Lexi Hartman, Program Director at the Savoy Recreation Center, said as a parent she knows how frustrating it can be to find child care when school gets called off at the last minute but parents are still expected to go to work.
“The idea (for the program) is (children) can come in to the rec center and run around, do crafts, have fun, and parents can still go to work,” she said.
Here’s how it works. When school gets called off due to bad weather, Snow Daze Kidz Club is open for business from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The service is open to any child, in any school district, ages 5-12 years old.
The cost is $30 for a Savoy resident and $39 for a non-resident. Participants are asked to bring a sack lunch and a snack will be provided.
Child care will be available on days when ANY district in the Champaign-Urbana area and beyond takes a snow day. For example, if schools were closed in Tolono but remained open in Champaign, the Kidz Club would still be open for business.
Parents are encouraged to call the recreation center to register their child in advance of potential snow days. A fee of $20 per child will be due at the time of registration, which will reserve your child a guaranteed spot on the list. The difference will be due on the actual snow day. If no snow days are held, then money will be refunded.
Hartman said spots are limited but she anticipates about 32 openings each snow day. For more information about the Snow Daze Kidz Club or to register your child, call 217-359-3550.
For more tips on what to do with your child in the event of a snow day, check our post on how to find back-up childcare.