A Wilkesboro church with empty space, a child care center in need, and a rallied community create
A“ Miracle”— and a Model
By Liz Bell, EdNC. org
In the last 18 years, Wilkes County, NC, has lost 56 child care programs, 67 % of its child care capacity. This year, thanks to a scrappy community effort, local leaders saved the county from losing another.
Sharon Phillips and her daughter Katy Hinson, owners of PlayWorks Early Care and Learning Center, cut the ribbon on their new location inside Wilkesboro United Methodist Church in April, expanding their business after months of wondering whether they’ d survive at all.
“ I consider what happened there a miracle,” said Todd Maberry, former managing director of the Ormond Center, a project at Duke Divinity School focused on helping churches assess their communities’ needs and find new ways to meet them. The center, which closed this summer, helped the Wilkesboro church decide how to use an empty wing to help address a local lack of child care and bring in new revenue.
The specifics of the initiative, called“ Big Building, Little Feet”— both the people behind it and the speed at which they raised more than $ 600,000 as the five-star program faced eviction— are specific to this community. But the model itself, Maberry said, has lessons for the entire state.
“ There’ s not one of the 100 counties that doesn’ t have a church that has an empty educational wing sitting there,” Maberry said.“ This can be a blueprint.”
Wilkesboro United Methodist Church sits on downtown Wilkesboro’ s main street. Liz Bell / EducationNC
SACRED PLACES •• SUMMER WINTER 2026 2023 23