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Most of them still had preschool children at home.

Not only did we travel to various places to find and collect data on the procedures needed in starting a day care center and its daily operation, but we had to find a way to place a building on this land that we had purchased. We applied for grants and received them from Frederick County Action and The Catholic Campaign for Human Development, as well as the City of Brunswick. We had many, many, many-a bake sale and we sought professional help on a voluntary basis from Rick Ekstrom, an architect from the University of Maryland, and legal services of Richard Burgee and Tom Dorsey of Frederick, Md. It was about the third year that some of us started to lose interest in what we were trying to accomplish, simply because what we thought we would have in two years seemed to be taking an eternity. But by giving each other moral support, we soon found our old enthusiastic selves again. A few ladies traveled to Upperville, Va., to look at a prefabricated building. An amount of $20,000 was needed to purchase the building that we saw. Our thoughts were - how in the world can we do this with only a few hundred dollars in our treasury? BUT - in 1973, the MacNeales had found volunteers to help clear off the land and a purchase agreement was made with Northern Counties Lumber, Inc., to bring our new building. We had a foundation awaiting a building. Amongst all of this development, bingos and bake sales and dances were still being held, along with donations from our mailing campaign corning in. And still the ladies were busy checking with organizations and government agencies about the operation of a day care center. In 1974, the building was paid for. Our VISTA worker,Joe McClintock, secured the Army Reserves to donate their weekends and they did most of the interior of the building, like installing the bathroom, hanging the panels, and insulation. In 1975, to meet fire regulation approval, we had to do some adjustments. One in particular that all of us will never forget was making the paneling heatretardant. The smell had tobeenduredand we had a hard time applying it. At last the upper floor was completed. I can't explain the feeling we had when we went shopping for furniture and seeing our driveway put in. All of those days of not knowing whether we had stretched out too far in trying to establish a day care were in the past. We had finally finished something in the Brunswick area that not even white women had ventured to do and we became even more proud. We had an establishment where local people

of low income status could apply for a job. We knew that that many a Brunswick resident had doubts about black women trying to build a day care center. But when President Lucille Gilbert gave the welcome address at our opening ceremony, I'm sure that whatever doubts they had vanished because there stood eight determined people who knew that their dream had actually come true and not one of them now had children young enough to attend The Leaming Tree, Inc.! In closing I would like to take the time to recognize those who gave from eight to ten years of their time, energy, and efforts to this cause: Patricia Smothers, Cynthia Smothers, Thearl Dykes, Frances Henderson, as well as myself, Lillie Morris. W - Lillie Morris

ELEMENTARY PTA When there were both an East and a West Brunswick Elementary School, each had its own Parent-Teacher Association. From 1952 to 1954, ~wo years before the new Consolidated Brunswick Elementary School opened, there was a joint elementary P.-T.A. The present elementary group continued from that beginning until it became a Parent-Teacher Organization in 1980.

BHSPTA Brunswick High School PTA officially started March 16, 1953, when Mr. Herman Hauver was principal. The 29 patrons and teachers who met on that date voted unanimously to form the organization. First year memberships totaled almost 200 (195354). Woodrow Souder was the first president, with Gladys Stine as vice president. Jean Brown was secretary, and Ruth Mohler, treasurer. Mrs. Nellie Lloyd was the first program chairman. By 1958, the PTA began placing emphasis on study groups, and fewer business meetings were held, since the all-time purpose of PTA is to educate its membership about the school and education in general. In the April 1960 meeting, Mr. Kussmaul announced that the long-hoped-for new school had been approved by the County Commissioners. In 1961-62 the PTA urged and received the appointment of Brunswick's Miss Lavenia Hood to the Board of Education. Membership during that period was the highest of its first d ecade with 512

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