Your gift is an investment in our community's future - please donate by November 7th.

What do you do when you are caring for two generations at once - an aging parent, and a young child? For one family in our community, this is the reality. They moved to Ann Arbor to care for a loved one, leaving behind their careers and a life they had built. Now, they are piecing together new jobs and their community from the ground up, all while struggling with a challenge we see far too often.

It’s a classic chicken-and-egg situation that so many families face. The parents need more work hours to afford childcare, but the reality of the broken system is that they can’t get more work without the care they so desperately need. Even with state child care funding, it is not enough to cover all the hours they need to work. Without a second car, their options for work are limited, and without work, they can’t afford a car payment. Changes in employment leave them without viable health insurance and with high out-of-pocket expenses. Instead of saving for a rainy day or college, they are using their savings to make sure everyone in the family has what they need.

This family is doing everything they can, but they are caught in a cycle created by a system that fails to support working parents, placing them just one emergency away from a major crisis.

At Apple Playschools, this family found the warmth, attention, and care that have helped their child feel safe and comfortable. Research shows that high-quality early learning is a key indicator of a child's success, directly influencing brain development, school readiness, and social-emotional growth. This stability for their child provides the foundation that enables her parents to secure long-term employment and build a sustainable life. As the mother wrote on her application, “I also greatly appreciate this scholarship program. Having to balance working from home and childcare has been incredibly challenging, so thank you for providing your own internal program!”

While this is just one family’s story, this is a familiar cycle that many families are left in, leaving them one unforeseen event away from instability. This challenge is compounded by the fact that state subsidies do not cover the full cost of high-quality care, and at least half of Apple Playschools’ scholarship recipients must use multiple forms of assistance in order to get the care they need. It is up to our community to help families close that gap. With the opening of our new school, we expect to receive more requests for scholarships than ever before, making your support more critical than ever. Our scholarship program helps form the community safety net that families need.

This family is counting on us, and we are counting on you. Can you make a gift today? Your support will go directly towards providing a scholarship, giving one child a safe place to learn and play while their family finds their footing. Any amount helps!

Please make your gift by November 7th to provide a scholarship that gives a child a chance to thrive and a family the opportunity to get back on their feet.