COASTAL OBSERVER

Patricia Rutledge saw the moving trucks outside the Pawleys Island Child Development Center and had to pull over. She said she hoped a miracle had happened.

“I knew what was going on with the center. I wasn’t thinking anything bad. I thought something good had came from this,” Rutledge said. “Sometimes things happen for a reason so things will get better, you know?”

The center that had been operating for more than 50 years cleared out its classrooms last week after it closed on April 24.

Tera Marshall, the former director of the center, helped to sort what belonged to the center and what belonged to the federal program that helped fund it. The items will be given to other centers. Movers carried away classroom fixtures that still had the names of students attached and cubbies decorated with stickers of flowers and butterflies that the center’s student no longer need.

By the end of last week, only cleaning supplies and a few oversized play sets remained.

Marshall said she was thinking about the students, staff and their families as building blocks and plush animals lingered on the ground.

“It’s hard to even wrap your head around,” she said.

The center’s board of directors said in a statement the closure is “temporary,” though no timeline was given. 

Vincent Davis, who is chairman of both the center’s board and the board of the Pawleys Island Civic Club, which owns the building, said he had to consult with the board before sharing any additional information.

“Our focus remains on addressing immediate operational matters and ensuring the organization is positioned to move forward responsibly,” the statement said.

Rutledge’s 4-year-old great-granddaughter was one of the 36 children enrolled. She held back tears thinking about the effect of the closure on her granddaughter, who was recently laid off from work.

“I don’t know what she’s going to do. She can’t really do nothing,” she said. “She’s scrambling now to find out where to take her child.”

Kendra Merrifield, a Georgetown resident, had two girls, 3 and 5, enrolled at the center. 

The Merrifield family was at the center’s fundraiser at The Quad earlier this year to support the people who took care of her kids when she couldn’t, she said.

“It makes it so we can go be a two-parent-working household,” Merrifield said.

Now that the center is closed, she said she would stay home with her children. Her husband is the main provider, she added, so working was not a necessity on her end.

“It’s not a lot of hours, and it’s more of a social thing for me,” Merrifield said.

Merrifield wasn’t worried about work so much as what her kids would lose. She said the center was a way for her daughters to learn how to write their names, make new friends and rhyme words.

“My youngest is shy, so it helps her get into the school setting,” Merrifield said. “My older daughter is really artistic so she comes home with tons of artwork.”

Marshall said she had plans in place to continue fundraising to keep the center afloat. The center was removed from the list of nonprofits participating in this month’s Palmetto Giving Day, a 36-hour online fundraiser.

The board made the decision to close without her input, she added.

“I said, there is a light at the end of the tunnel but they weren’t willing to even consider,” she said.

Marshall said it will take a lot of work for the center to reopen. She said the board was concerned about being able to pay for new teachers and a director.

“You have to work, put plans in place. You have to fund-raise. You have to do whatever,” she said. “It’s hard work to be on a board. It’s hard work to run a center.”

Rutledge, who was born and raised in Pawleys Island, said she has witnessed the impact the center left on children and parents alike in the community. She has hopes that the community will put their heads, and wallets, together to help.

Rutledge had done her part. When she pulled over her SUV at the center last week, she also pulled out her phone. She went live on Facebook, sharing the news of the closure and asking for help.

“Now that it’s closed, maybe people will open up now. It’s something we have to do. We have to come together,” Rutledge said. “I know God is looking down on us and saying, ‘listen. I’ve got a plan.’”