Manteo First Assembly of God Receives Grant from the Outer Banks Community Foundation

By Hannah Bunn West

The kitchen at Manteo First Assembly of God was long overdue for an upgrade. After multiple decades of preparing snacks, storing lunches, and celebrating special occasions, the cabinets, countertops, and appliances that had been diligently serving the church and its child care program since the 1980s were beginning to fall apart. But Sharal Huit, the preschool’s director who foresees a long future for the facility, found a way forward.

Manteo First Assembly is nestled on a quiet street in a leafy green neighborhood on Roanoke Island. It’s an ideal place for a child to learn, grow, and meet new friends in their formative years, and the church’s daycare, preschool, and school-aged programs achieve just that. The 3-star licensed facility can serve up to 50 children from age two and a half to age eight. While its idyllic setting may seem like it could be cost-prohibitive to some families, the program strives to keep its prices as low as possible and to serve families across the socioeconomic spectrum throughout Dare and surrounding counties, in a time when both the availability and affordability of child care is a growing challenge.

“Investing in early childhood education is one of the most impactful ways we can support our community,” said Outer Banks Community Foundation Grant Manager Scout Schillings. “We are excited that we could fulfill this request to keep (their/this) pre-school certified, safe, and running. We hope to meet the needs of more requests like these in the future.”

Sharal begins each day in the church’s kitchen, crafting snacks and portioning out milk and juice for the 38 children that attend daycare and preschool there. Thanks to a grant from the Outer Banks Community Foundation, the dated countertops have been replaced with gleaming quartz and 25-year-old cabinetry is now brand new. Each child’s packed lunch is organized into brown paper bags, labeled with their names, and stored in one of two sparkling clean stainless steel refrigerators. As a state licensed child care facility, they must adhere to meticulous requirements for preparing and storing food.

“We have to keep things in good repair for the state and for our licensing, and it helps to have a nice kitchen for all of the fun things we like to do too,” says Sharal. “Like special programs for the parents where we can put out a nice spread, and for our Green Eggs and Ham day.”

When the cabinets started falling off their hinges, she and her team at First Assembly knew it was time to get resourceful. Pastor Ivey Belch was familiar with the grant opportunities available through the Outer Banks Community Foundation and was the one who suggested that they connect. He had been the pastor at the Lifesaving Church on Ocracoke when Hurricane Dorian devastated the island in 2019 and saw firsthand how the Community Foundation can help in times of need.

And the need for child care providers is dire–across all counties in North Carolina, and in all fifty states. When federal stabilization grants expired at the end of June, the nation faced a “child care cliff.” Without the Covid-era funding to help providers pay their employees, cover facility and licensing expenses, and subsidize child care costs for eligible families, it was estimated that nearly 30% of childcare programs across North Carolina would have to close their doors.

Just days before the July 1st funding cliff, state legislators passed a bill allocating $67.5 million to continue child care stabilization grants through December, though at a reduced rate, until the legislature can approve a budget later this year. However, that amount still isn’t enough to cover the first two quarters of the fiscal year or to avoid program closures.

“The lack of child care providers across the country is affecting the Outer Banks too,” said Outer Banks Community Foundation Director Ruth Toth. “It is vital that we support established, licensed preschools in our community, like Manteo First Assembly of God. They are doing very important work by providing a safe place for children to learn and grow, while also providing affordable child care to working parents on the Outer Banks.”

Sharal has been with First Assembly’s long-running child care program since it was established in 1986, starting as a floater doing whatever was needed and eventually rising up the ranks to the role of director. Her daughter attended as a child, and just last year, her grandchild graduated from the preschool.

Over the past three decades, she has seen the child care industry evolve through changes and challenges–increasingly strict licensing requirements, wage stagnation, rising operating costs, and increased demand–but has always found a way to meet them and to continue serving the community. When asked about her waitlist, Sharal retrieves a notebook from her desk drawer. Though she can’t disclose how many families are on the list, she silently flips through two or three pages. It’s long.

“Receiving grants helps keep our doors open and keeps us from raising our prices. Our rates are still one of the lowest in Dare County,” Sharal says. “We did have to go up some this year, but we’re still committed to helping families that need help, and to our teachers.”

In an industry that typically has low wages and high turnover, Sharal takes pride in supporting her team. “I’ve been very blessed to have all my workers for many years,” she says.

Grants also provide expanded learning opportunities for the children at First Assembly. In addition to the kitchen remodel, the OBCF grant went toward the purchase of an interactive touchscreen table that facilitates learning activities, digital literacy, creativity, social interaction, and even speech and language support in young learners.

“Throughout the next 15 to 20 years, many children and their families will be served in our center and each one will benefit from these improvements,” says Cindy Arendts, a member of Sharal’s staff. “We are so blessed and grateful to the Community Foundation and all those that have contributed to helping us provide quality care in our community.”

With each challenge that arises in the changing landscape of the child care industry, Sharal and her team at Manteo First Assembly look to their resources, the Outer Banks Community Foundation among them, to keep moving forward.

“It’s all about finding ways to adapt,” she says. “Because at the end of the day, it’s about the children.”

Community Enrichment Grants are awarded four times a year. The next application deadline is Friday, July 26. Nonprofits must submit an online application in order to be considered for a Community Enrichment Grant.

For more information about Community Enrichment Grants, please visit OBCF.org.

About the Outer Banks Community Foundation: The Outer Banks Community Foundation is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization committed to fostering philanthropy and supporting local causes. Through its charitable funds and grant programs, the Foundation strives to enrich the quality of life for residents of the Outer Banks.