BETHEL — The Sharon Wilson-Cox Early Learning Center (Sharon’s Place), located at 310 West Bethel Road on Rte. 2, will open May 27.

Operated by the social service organization Community Concepts, the center will serve children from six weeks to five years old. It will employ 12 staff members across three classrooms and accommodate 40 children and their families in the Bethel area.

“It’s amazing, it’s beautiful. Our community definitely needed it,” said Danna Wilson-Louison of Bethel, whose 3-year-old son, Riley, is on the waiting list at Sharon’s Place.

Wilson-Louison’s sons, Riley and Alden, 5, previously attended Someday Bigger Day Care at Sunday River Ski Resort after the Bethel Early Learning Center closed in February 2023. That center had served 19 families.

Sunday River’s center quickly reached capacity. “Some places you have to put your kids on the wait list the minute they are born,” Wilson-Louison said. “[Not having an early learning center] has definitely been a stressor in the community. Sunday River does their best but they are a day care, not a learning center.”

Sunday River, which traditionally served only employees’ children and guests, expanded its daycare capacity to help fill the gap. “Sunday River was the only show in town,” said SAD-44 Superintendent of Schools Mark Kenney, whose daughter Ginny attended.

Melissa Waterhouse of Bethel said being home full-time with her two children, both of whom have autism, made it difficult to work. “I couldn’t work without a day care,” Waterhouse said. Now, with her older son in school and her younger son set to attend Sharon’s Place, she hopes to work as a Personal Support Specialist (PSS) with Community Concepts.

At the May 15 ribbon-cutting, Kim Bessette, director of Children’s Services, recalled meeting with former SAD-44 Superintendent David Murphy. He asked her to consider opening a child care center in Bethel. She told him it would be difficult and expensive. “Murphy went on to put his money where his mouth is,” she said, raising funds to help make the center a reality.

According to a press release, the project was made possible through state and federal funding and support from multiple community partners.

Community Concepts CEO Jim Martin noted the center is named after Sharon Wilson-Cox, who dedicated 45 years to early childhood education with the organization. “I’m humbled and grateful that I get to drive by here and see her name,” said her son, Sean Wilson, a driver for Walmart.