Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com


After years of struggles, a local church announced that it will be closing its
Children’s Care Center.

The First Presbyterian Church of Howell said its Children’s Care Center has proudly served” children and families for decades. It said “Our excellent teachers and assistant teachers, director and assistant director have striven to ensure that children are well taken care of and families in our community are supported, educating children in the first Howell preschool to be nationally accredited”.

Since 2020, the Church said the Children’s Care Center has suffered persistent financial losses. Those losses were said to have become even steeper recently as child care enrollment has dropped amid inflation, declining birth rates, and competition from the secular, state-funded Great Start Readiness Program. Unfortunately, the Church said financial reserves will soon run out.

Because of that, the Center will be closing.

The final day of Child Care operations will be December 19th. The Church said it hopes to continue the pre-school program through the end of the school year, but come the end of May 2026, that too will be closed.


Rev. Alexander Haines stated the following:

The Children’s Care Center has meant so much in so many lives. It has been an honor to serve many families over the years.

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven” – Ecclesiastes 3:1

This season has an impending end, and we intend to end it well, providing the best child care and preschool instruction that we can up until the doors have to close. We pray that God would bless the staff, the children, and the families of the Children’s Care Center.

Facebook photos.