Paramount Opens
Child Care Center in Avenal;
More Projects in Delano & Visalia
By
John Lindt
Avenal - Paramount Farms opened its new child care center in Avenal in February that will provide a learning center for kids of the 600-employee westside nut ranch who live in the area.
In few days, the 76-child learning center will open to the general public, as well in the striking new 11,300-square-foot building designed to be highly energy efficient as a LEED (Leadership In Energy and Environmental Design) structure.
The funding is just the latest in a series of generous offerings by Paramount to Valley institutions that seem to revolve around kids and improving their futures.
The philanthropy of the owners of Paramount Farms – Lynda and Stewart Resnick – is legendary with the latest news in recent days of a donation of $158,000 in support of Children's Hospital of Central California. That is just one in a line of gifts to the children's hospital that cares for so many sick Valley kids.
Paramount has already funded a $4 million – 50,000-square-foot expansion of the hospital – to be completed next year with the new wing to be named for the company.
Besides these projects, the Resnicks have supported school programs in Del Rey, Lost Hills, Shafter, Kettleman City and Earlimart, among others. Now there is news the company will fund a new charter school in Delano and a pediatric unit's landscaped courtyard at the new Kaweah Delta hospital in Visalia, says Vanessa DeCarbo, director of communication for the company. The Visalia “Mommy-Baby” courtyard is expected to be complete late this month.
“Education has always been the
area which Stewart and I have focused much of our efforts,” said
Lynda Resnick, who co-owns the company with her husband, Stewart.
“What started for us many years ago with a handful of orchards has
grown into a dedicated commitment to providing opportunity and growth
for families in the Central Valley,” says Stewart.
One of the largest farm operations in the state, Paramount Farms cultivates some 90,000 acres of land producing pistachios, almonds and pomegranates. A separate operation – Paramount Citrus – is one of the largest citrus growers in the state with extensive holdings in Tulare County.
Besides its commitment to children,
the company is taking the lead on the environmental front, recently building
a large new solar array to power its Lost Hills ranch. Using the green
philosophy, Paramount Child Development Center was built to a high degree
of energy efficiency with walls and floors built featuring high mass for
thermal storage and cool roof technology to handle Avenal's torrid summers.
The mostly low income farm worker town is just west of I-5 in Kings County.
Paramount is named as the town's largest private employer even though
the ranch is miles away.
Running the newly opened child care center is the Children's Creative Learning Centers Inc. (CCLC) that operates more than 100 employer-owned child care centers. In charge in Avenal is Margarita Davila who has 28 years as a teacher working in migrant programs.
Few Farm Employer-Owned Child Care Centers
While employer-sponsored child care centers are not unusual in large metro areas, they are few and far between in the rural San Joaquin Valley where tens of thousands of farm workers and their families live. At Paramount, employees are offered the child care enrollment at reduced rates.
Clearly, early child development programs pay off for pre-school kids who develop early social skills, self confidence and reading ability even before they start grade school. Many studies have shown kids getting an early start in learning are more likely to graduate high school as well as attend college.
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of The Valley Voice Newspaper and may not be reprinted without explicit
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