Lynn Anderson, pictured in front of the Blue Earth’s Little Giants Early Learning Center, has been the childcare center’s director/coordinator for 30 years. She was hired in September, 1992, and has been the heart and soul of the center ever since.

Over the past 30 years, Lynn Anderson has helped take care of hundreds, and hundreds, of children.

Anderson, who is the coordinator of Little Giants Early Learning Center in Blue Earth, just celebrated her 30th year in that posting last week.

In fact, Little Giants itself, and its previous namesake of Little Luke’s, is also celebrating 30 years of service to the community.

Anderson is the only director/coordinator the child care operation has ever had.

“I was hired in September of 1992, right after I had graduated from college with a degree in elementary education, and I was licensed to teach kindergarten through sixth grade,” Anderson says. “I never did need to pursue that teaching degree.”

Anderson explains that Little Luke’s was located at St. Luke’s Lutheran Care Center, and was developed as a child care center that would be an intergenerational space, with the elderly residents and the young children in the child care doing some things together.

It opened in the fall of 1992.

The wing on the east side of St. Luke’s was built specifically to be the home of Little Luke’s, Anderson explains.

“But there was such a need for child care, and we wanted to add infant care, so we had outgrown the space,” Anderson explains. “And we didn’t really have room to expand.”

In October of 2008, Little Luke’s made some big changes. It moved to the Ag Center, became a venture run cooperatively between the city of Blue Earth and the Blue Earth Area School District, and changed its name to Little Giants.

“We operate under the Community Education part of the school district, and the city got involved by getting a loan from USDA to redo the space for us at the Ag Center,” Anderson explains. “We pay the city a lease for the space, and our payroll and expense checks come from Community Ed.”

However, Anderson is quick to point out that the tuition fees which parents pay for the child care services cover all of their expenses and payroll, and always have over the last 30 years.

Right now, Little Giants is running at full capacity, which is 73 children. There is a staff of eight, plus Anderson, to care for the kids.

But, Anderson is also in charge of two other Community Ed programs.

“I am also the coordinator for Jump Start which is for pre-kindergarten kids, and has three staff members, and the before and after school program, which is also the BE-A-Kid summer program, which has four staff members.”

There can be as many as 48 kids in the BE-A-Kid program, which is for children from kindergarten through fourth grade.

“We do a lot of field trips with them,” Anderson says. “So they love it.”

All told, the three programs serve approximately 120 families in the Blue Earth and Blue Earth Area School District area.

There is always a need for quality child care here and around the area, Anderson says, and there never is enough, especially home day care providers.

Anderson is quick to point to the staff for the success of Little Giants over the years.

“We have a great staff,” she says. “They are all quality employees, reliable and very capable.”

The staff members return the compliment.

“Lynn is very dedicated to her job, her staff, and the families in her programs,” says Melissa Ahl. “She goes above and beyond to ensure that the educational, safety and emotional needs of each child is met. She can routinely be seen interacting with children of all ages, greeting with smiles, giving hugs and pep talks.”

Ahl adds there has been very little turnover of staff in Lynn’s 30 years as director and her dedication to staff is the main reason. Other staff members agreed with that statement.

“I have been here 12 years and it is definitely an interesting job,” says Kerri, who along with co-worker Jessica, was in the baby room tending to eight infants all under the age of one year old. “But it is Lynn who makes it a great place to work. She is a wonderful boss, welcomes our input, is flexible and easy going.”

The babies in the baby room, by the way, go by the title of ‘Sweet Peas,’ in keeping with the Green Giant theme at Little Giants.

After 30 years, Anderson says she still loves her job and has no intentions of retiring from it any time soon.

“It is amazing to build so many strong connections with children and families over the past 30 years,” Anderson relates. “I have parents that were preschool children at Little Luke’s return with their own little ones. So heartwarming to know they learned and grew in my program then, and now trust me to do the same with their own children.”

She adds that the goal at Little Giants, and at Little Luke’s before that, has always been to build up children with a strong foundation for pre-school, elementary and beyond.

“And most of the time, it appears we are successful,” Anderson concludes. “That gives us a nice sense of accomplishment.”