Watford City Expands Daycare System | Video

Chris Williams | 2/7/2013

Man camps are slowly being phased out of oil country, as cities are trying to bring more families to the area. But with that comes some challenges. One of the biggest right now is daycare. Most facilities are full, and some have had to raise their prices to compete with other industries. Watford City has a plan to add more daycare space, and it received some major help last night.

Wiggles and Giggles is the only daycare center in Watford City, with room for 55 children.

"This year I just added 10 more kids, so otherwise I was probably 35, and in November I just opened up a new room, and I just got 10 more kids,” said owner Tessa Moberg.

Another daycare center will be built in Watford City, and it will provide some much needed relief.

"This is going to triple the amount of daycare available in the community. Currently there`s one provider, she`s offering 44-50 spots somewhere in there. This is going to be anywhere between 150-200,” said Mayor Brent Sanford.

Opening up a childcare facility of this size isn`t cheap, and that`s why local companies are stepping up to help out.

"We`re receiving corporate donations in the amount of $300,000 from four oil companies. We feel it`s very, very generous contribution from four local operators,” Sanford added.

QEP and MBI are donating $50,000 each. Whiting and Power Fuels are giving $100,000 each.

"Our founder, Mark Jon Druid, started a housing project probably four years ago, and our idea was to bring families into the Bakken for a long term employment,” said GM of Operations for Power Fuels Terry Moe.

They found housing for their drivers. Now their families are starting to move here, and that`s why Power Fuels wanted to give $100,000 towards a daycare.

"We believe in the Bakken. We don`t believe in the boom theory. This is an industry. We believe it`s going to continue to grow, we want to be a part of that,” added Moe.

As the community keeps growing, a little help can make a difference.

"It takes a lot of money to run a daycare, you don`t really make anything off of it. Any help that anybody can give us is great. It`s just hard to run a place especially with the rising costs of everything, and trying to keep the daycare rates low,” Moberg added.

The daycare is expected to open sometime later this year.

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