QUINCY, ILL. -- The long awaited reopening of the Walter Hammond Daycare is over.

Staff welcomed children in Wednesday morning for their first official day at the daycare, located at 906 Lind St., in Quincy.

Staff closed the facility more than two years ago, when the state failed to deliver payments on time. It was a struggle to find other sources of funding, until staff turned to private donors and federal grants.

In the last year, Director Lisa Sams worked with volunteers to bring the daycare back to the neighborhood.

"I think this was a huge need in the community. I think a lot of people don't know that we're open. We've been saying, 'we're going to open! We're going to open,' and it took us a long time to get here. But it was all worth it. It took us a long time to bring the building back to code, which we've met all the state licensing requirements and now we're finally here and ready to receive kids," Sams said.

"We have a fabulous staff of teachers who are all certified and exceed the licensing requirements. We work out of the creative curriculum, so we give the kids well-balanced, whole child, early childhood experience when they come here, everything from their social, emotional to their physical to their cognitive and early learning skills that they need to enter school," Sams said.

Walter Hammond Daycare is open from 6:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Children between the ages of 2 and 12 are welcome to join.