OSMOND — Paige Kumm has always enjoyed working with kids.
The Stanton native worked at several daycare centers before she and her husband, Gene, decided to run the former Little Tigers Daycare Center, now known as Tigers and Friends Childcare.
Tigers and Friends officially opened for business on Tuesday, Feb. 6, and Paige said she and Gene are in the process of purchasing the business.
There are seven people total employed at Tigers and Friends. There are 22 children currently enrolled in the daycare center, but by the time Decem-months to second grade, and they will be adding at least four infants between now and October, she added.
They have not done any major upgrades yet, she said, because they have been waiting on their plumber to install a new, commercial-grade dishwasher. He has located one for them, however, so that will be installed soon.
They are not able to do much of the work themselves in the building because, with the loan they are applying for, everything has to be done by the book, with certified workers. Seth Noble is doing the plumbing, and Michael Koehler is doing the construction work, she explained.
Right now, they just have some odds-and-ends construction projects to be done around the place, so Koehler will be upgrading and fixing the fence, fixing some things inside the building, and replacing the roof.
Paige was born and raised in Stanton, and graduated in 2012 from Stanton High School. She went to Northeast Community College for about a year before having her first child, then went back for another year and decided she wanted to work in early childhood.
Paige said she and Gene lived in Mitchell, S.D., and then Yankton, before moving back to this area.
Paige worked at Northern Hills in Norfolk for about a year, almost 11 years ago, she said. When the couple was living in Mitchell, she worked at a small center about the size of Tigers and Friends, called Bright Beginnings, for about a year and a half.
After moving to Yankton, she worked at a daycare called Stepping Stones. They had about 80 kids at that location, she said. It was there that she learned a lot about how a business operates.
“We still have to follow state rules,” Paige said, “but I learned how she (her employer) did things, and she’s still a good mentor for me.”
Paige said she decided to get into this business because she enjoyed working with kids. She ran a daycare in her home here in Osmond for about 3½ years, and then this opportunity became available, and she and her husband decided they wanted to take their business out of their house.
Paige and Gene have three boys: Cooper, 11, and in the fifth grade; August, 3½, Theo, 7 months.
