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SCHENECTADY
Annual Steak & Lobster Fest supports city’s Day Nursery
Tickets still available for Thursday event
BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter

    The day care created for the working poor will once again host a common man’s feast to support its mission of keeping children safe while their parents are at work.
    The annual Steak & Lobster Fest will be held Thursday from 5 to 8 p.m. at Central Park.
    Lobster may not seem like a common man’s meal, but a century ago, it was only eaten by the poor. The upper crust was not yet convinced that a spiny shelled creature could be a delicacy, and the crustacean was so populous that lobsters were literally washed ashore to be harvested by the poor.
    So it seems like the perfect meal to serve as the annual fund-raiser for the Schenectady Day Nursery, which serves the working poor.
    The nursery opened in 1902 after the community learned that some working mothers had to lock their children in their houses or leave them to wander the street all day for lack of an affordable day care.
    The Day Nursery was opened within months of that report, making it the first chartered nursery in Schenectady County. Officials believe it is now the longest continually-running day care in the state.
    The need has never diminished. In 1998, the nursery began accepting children as young as six weeks old, taking in babies as soon as their mothers’ family medical leave ran out. The nursery also expanded, nearly doubling its capacity.
    “Especially in today’s economy, parents have to work,” Director Diane Fisher said. “It hasn’t changed. There are still children that are on the streets.”
    The nursery takes in very little money — it began by charging mothers just 10 cents a day, and 20 cents if the father was still living. Nowadays, it uses a sliding fee based on income, and Schenectady County DSS pays the fee for many parents.
    Money is so tight that the nursery spent two years fund-raising to replace its old wooden playground equipment, which was falling apart,
    The Steak & Lobster Fest will help fund day-to-day operations. But it will also continue the lowkey, community-building atmosphere that the nursery tries to create.
    “It’s just this warm, bring-yourfamily event,” said fest creator Jane Golub. “Nothing sophisticated. We have folk-singer music. But people look forward to it. We’re up to 300 people now.”
    Tickets are $40 in advance with a choice of a steak or lobster din-.............>>>>............>>>>.................................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....1&Continuation=1