CECI Completes Renovation of School’s Only Building

provided to The Santiva Chronicle

The Children’s Education Center of the Islands announced the completion of a $70,000 renovation to the school’s only building, Thompson Hall, funded by The Sanctuary Golf Club Foundation.

CECI used the grant to add much-needed resiliency measures to the school’s historic building. These improvements included impact windows, Hardie board siding, and the installation of gutters. These meaningful changes ensure the safeguarding of the school from future storms, allowing it to continue to be an integral institution on the island.

These resiliency measures immediately impacted the school community, allowing the school to withstand the impacts of Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton and reopen quickly to ensure students can maintain a sense of normalcy and families can have time to focus on the recovery needed in their homes.

Without the generosity of The Sanctuary Golf Club Foundation, the school and community may have suffered significant impacts from these storms. CECI is grateful for community support to continue the school’s 50-year tradition of serving families who live and work on Sanibel Island.

Established in 1974 and preparing to celebrate its 50th year on Sanibel in 2024, The Children’s Education Center is a nature-based preschool that began as a parent co-op at the old Bailey’s General Store location on the bay.

The school moved to its current location on Casa Ybel Road in 1980. The beautiful five-acre campus remains primarily undeveloped natural land. With the help of the Sanctuary Golf Club Foundation, it has the opportunity to reopen and allow the children to continue exploring our sanctuary island’s natural resources.

The mission of The Sanctuary Golf Club Foundation is to support nonprofits that positively impact the lives of people in need who live or work on Sanibel or Captiva and to provide education scholarship grants to Sanctuary employees and their families. The Sanctuary Golf Club Foundation has a long history of supporting Sanibel-based nonprofit organizations.

In addition to current and previous grants awarded to The Children’s Education Center of the Islands, they have also awarded grants to F.I.S.H, Community House Resource, The Sanibel School, and Golisano Children’s Hospital. They have also established a Sanctuary Employee Emergency Fund to support employees of the Sanctuary Golf Club. Most recently, they established a daily food program with the Harry Chapin Food Bank at The Sanibel School.