Well, every day across the state, parents face emergencies, a medical crisis, no child care wall at work.

A single parent dealing with trauma when stress hits.

That's when Pinwheel Place steps in.

It's the state's first and only crisis nursery, offering trauma informed care 365 days a year to any child, age six and under.

No questions asked, completely free.

As Raven Santana reports, Pinwheel is more than a nursery.

It's a refuge providing care, wraparound services, and a whole lot of love.

I mean, it takes strength to ask for help.

And these are their their children, their most prized possession, and that they would give us the honor of taking care of their children.

To me, that just says that they would need us.

Founded by mother daughter team Lynn Hawkins and Quartey, Simmons Pinwheel Place is the only crisis nursery in the state that's designed to feel like a home.

But once inside, families are offered free trauma, informed emergency child care for children from birth to age six.

24 seven.

Confidentially and without judgment.

So we provide a lot of emergency child care for moms who are domestic abuse victims.

And starting their lives over and need a place, a safe place to leave their child while they're going on job interviews or even going to court to get restraining orders.

You don't want to bring your kids to court with you when you're trying to get a restraining order.

We have a family that the parent, one of the parents, has cancer and is getting an aggressive treatment.

And the other parent still needs to work and they need a place to keep their kids while the one parent is going to work.

We've had families who have gone into the hospital, single parents who've gone into the hospital and had nobody to watch their kids while they were in the hospital.

So we're bridging that gap, filling those spaces where traditional child care doesn't sell.

Now, founded in 2019 and funded out of their own pockets, Pinwheel Place moved into a permanent home in 2023.

We got a tour of the new Monmouth County location, which includes age specific rooms, an outdoor play area, private conference space for parents and storage for diaper and baby supply distribution.

But their work goes beyond the nursery.

Pinwheel Place also provides diaper deliveries, infant essentials and welcome baskets for new parents, all part of a wraparound approach to family support.

I feel it's important to for the families to have that dignity when they walk in.

We want the house to be welcoming and nice, and that's something that they don't have to worry about, like they can go take care of all the other stresses that they have going on in their lives which bring them.

But they know that their children are in a warm and fun place.

So how do you keep something like Pinwheel Place going?

It's a struggle.

Again, not many people know that we're here, so that also applies to funders and grant makers.

So we're always looking for people to support us in that way.

Just like any.

House.

We have to pay the bills, the electric, the water, you know, the food for the kids, even like arts and crafts supplies to keep the kids busy.

They have done an incredible job with creativity and, you know, know how to make this happen on almost nothing.

So so now it's up to me and my board to help bring more funds to help them amplify their incredible mission.

That's where Carol Delia, the newly appointed chairperson of the board, comes in with a mission to raise awareness and resources.

Delia emphasizes that pinwheel place is more than child care.

It's part of a larger effort to prevent child abuse before it begins.

We consider ourselves the first line of defense for child abuse prevention because we get the enormous struggles that these families are dealing with to try to just survive and stay above the line.

I mean, you know, so many families are literally just paying for child care, you know, barely by working, you know, and there's nothing left afterwards.

I mean, the struggle is so profound.

Now, we are licensed as a family child care center with a maximum capacity of five children at a time.

And so, you know, we see being able to hopefully expand once we, you know, solidify, you know, this wonderful space.

Well, Delia and Hawkins agree community support is essential from child's care volunteers to diaper sponsors.

Every contribution helps keep this lifeline going.

For Andre Spotlight News on Raven Santana.