DePaul Children’s Center opens, now accepting registrations

SAN ANTONIO • Children’s song and laughter were heard Nov. 3 as community leaders gathered to celebrate a state-of-the-art building being placed in service. Archbishop José H. Gomez blessed the structure and staff as part of the ceremony.

The Daughters of Charity Services of San Antonio new early childhood education center was dedicated that Tuesday morning on the DePaul Campus at 7607 Somerset Road.

The new 22,000 square foot early childhood education building is the result of a $4.3 million campaign called Children First, completed in December 2008. Community leaders and foundation supported the fundraising over a period of five years.

Twelve classrooms will accommodate up to 200 children, from birth to 4 in the childcare and up to age 12 in the afterschool program. The new center has playgrounds that will add an additional 18,000 square feet of outdoor learning for the children.

Attendees were able to tour the facility following the dedication ceremony, which featured comments from Larry Mejia, president and chief executive officer of Daughters of Charity Services; Sister Marie Therese Sedgwick, DC, chair of the organization’s Board of Trustees; and Steve Dufilho, chairman of the fundraising effort for the new facility.

Daughters of Charity Services provide neighborhood-based programs to increase accessibility to primary health care and human services on the part of the poor.