Child Care Providers Waiting for Money

FISHER--Day care providers are waiting on checks that pay for food. The federal government says the money is there, but it's up to the state to mail the checks out. The checks were due Monday. Providers can't afford the waiting game. They don't know how they'll put food on the table.

"All of this is going to be gone by Friday," said Mary Blythe opening up her cupboard. She's due about 14-hundred dollars to keep it and her freezer full. "For some of my kids, [their] mommies are so low income that what they eat here is their main nutrition for the day," she said. Peanut butter sandwiches, yogurt and fruit make up one type of meal. Blythe feeds a dozen kids breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks five days a week. The federal AG department foots the bill, but the money is sent to the state board of education to be given out. It owes a long list of providers for June. "This is going to force me to have to use my husband's paycheck and choose between paying other bills or complying with what the state says I have to do in order to maintain my daycare," said Blythe. "That puts bills behind which this time day and age you just can't do that," added Shelly Hill. She also runs a daycare in Fisher.

Full text available at WCIA-3 News.