DE PERE (NBC 26) — Lindsay and Jay Arndt opened Mobius in De Pere as an after school and summer childcare facility, but just a few months after opening, a car crashed through the side of their building.
- The vehicle crashed through the building on Oct. 14.
- No one was in the building when the accident occurred.
- Mobius was able to block off the impacted room and continue to operate.
Lindsey and Jay Arndt bought an old church building on Destiny Drive last year.
“When we walked through this place, we knew, we knew that this would be a perfect Mobius," Jay saif.
Mobius is an after school and summer childcare facility based in Arkansas, and it's where the Arndts sent their child when they lived in the state.
“It was the first place our son didn’t want us to pick him up early," Jay said.
When they moved back to De Pere, they decided to open a Mobius location of their own – the first in Wisconsin.
They serve kids 5-12 years old.
“We’re a STEAM-led program, so we have room with arts, science, technology," Lindsay said. "We have a great gym, a great program, and lots of places for kids to, as we say, explore, dream and discover.”
The building is also available to rent for community events or birthday parties.
“When we built this space, we really saw more than just after school and summer, we really saw it as a hub for the community," Lindsay said.
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After purchasing the building, they spent several months renovating the space, before opening in June of this year.
On Oct. 14, they ran into an unexpected obstacle.
“We got a call that a vehicle drove into our building, so that was just a huge shock." Lindsay said. "It’s the worst, best case scenario that no one was here.”
“It was a really big shock, driving up and seeing a place that we put a lot into, a lot of time and effort, and we’re still very new, and so that part was difficult, but at the end of the day, a wall is a wall," Jay added. "Very thankful that no one was here.”
The impacted space was the program's game room, so they quickly cleaned up, moved the games to another space and opened in time to collect the kids after school.
“The biggest thing is you know, we first wanted to make sure the driver was okay, and then the second thought was, can our kids still come here because they rely on us," Lindsay said.
After school programming is something that's lacking in Wisconsin. According to the After School Alliance, about 80% of Wisconsin kids who want to be in an after school program can’t find one that meets their needs.
“We want to make an impact on this community, we want to take care of their kids," Lindsay said.
Lindsey and Jay say they don’t know how much repairs will cost, but they say the community has stepped up with donations and support.
“It think that was the biggest blessing of this week, just the outpouring of support that came through," Lindsay said.
