T-R PHOTO BY ANNA SHEARER
Bright Beginnings Daycare will close its doors temporarily after serving Marshalltown families for almost 50 years.

Bright Beginnings, a daycare in Marshalltown, will close its doors temporarily.

There are 43 children attending the daycare who will be affected when it closes. A closing date has not yet been determined.

According to Linnette Tuttle, member of the board of directors at Marshall County Child Care Services, the center lost its nonprofit status after failing to turn in some paperwork. This caused the daycare to lose funding it depended on to pay staff and provide care to children.

Tuttle served as the director of Bright Beginnings for 40 years until her retirement three years ago.

Bright Beginnings has half the number of children that would put them at capacity, while other daycares in town are consistently full.

Tuttle attributes this to the tornado that hit Marshalltown in 2018.

“They did lose families during the tornado. Those families moved away,” she said.

Marshall County Child Care Services has set up a GoFundMe on Facebook to support the daycare. In two days it has raised $330 of its $25,000 goal.

According to the GoFundMe page, Bright Beginnings will be overseen by a new board of management once they get their nonprofit status back. The management will be the board of directors from Marshall County Child Care Services.

Tuttle said families should come to Bright Beginnings despite its current challenges.

“The teachers are loving, it’s a safe environment and they get good nutrition,” she said.