While the Child & Family Center has had to evacuate twice in the past week, due to the two “Pointe Fires” that have occurred in the Centre Pointe area, the center has also made sure to help neighbors in need.
Those neighbors included children from the Notre Dame Children’s Academy and Creative Years Infant Center & Preschool.
“Last week, we had a massive fire that filled our large, 37,000-square-feet campus. We had smoke inside. We evacuated everyone safely, and we had hoped that that would be the end of it. (Tuesday), the same thing occurred, and even though the fire wasn’t nearly as big, we could see the flames and smell the smoke,” said Nikki Buckstead, president and CEO of the Child & Family Center. “We had about 170 people on campus, and we were able to get everybody out in under 10 minutes.”
According to Buckstead, the 170 people included 100 staff members and clients, and an additional 70 people from Valley Industry Association attending an event.
“We have an incident command team, and they’re trained to handle all types of emergencies. Our director of operations, Dave Cantrell, was helping guide traffic out of our parking lot, and he noticed a bunch of kids across the street sitting in the heat. He could tell that they were young, and that it was a traumatic event for them,” Buckstead said. “He ran over to them and said, ‘Hey come over here. You can get out of the direct sunlight and away from the smoke,’ and he was able to get them into a location on our campus.”
Buckstead found about 30 children, along with teachers and staff members, sitting in the shade and brought them inside to stay cool amidst the chaos.
“We have the Early Head Start program that Volunteers of America runs on our campus, so the three preschools were calling parents to come get their kids. We’re always trying to support our community and kids in the community, and it was really nice to be able to provide a safe place for them during a really scary time,” Buckstead said. “I heard one of the teachers say, ‘I know we had to wake you up during nap time.’ Nobody likes to be woken up during a nap.”
Buckstead thanked the first responders who quickly responded and extinguished the fire, and recognized the nonprofit’s responsibilities as being at the forefront of the community.
“It’s really our responsibility, as a nonprofit in the community, to meet the needs and the demands of the community. We didn’t know that that was going to happen, but it does show you that the heart and soul of the staff that work here are like, ‘Absolutely, we’re going to help you,’” Buckstead said. “It was heartwarming to be able to provide a safe space for everyone for that period of time.”
