GREAT FALLS — Community members gathered for a ground-breaking ceremony for a new Toby's House Crisis Nursery facility at the corner of Second Street and Seventh Avenue South.
Toby's House needs a larger building to meet the increased demand for childcare services.
Justin Robicheau reports from the ground-breaking:
Leesha Ford, the director of Toby's House, explained, “We tripled the number of children and the number of hours of care that we provided from 2024 to 2025. So we exceeded 11,500 hours of care, and that is hours of safety for children and our community."
She noted, "We have had to turn families away, and so that has really been heartbreaking because sometimes, that doesn't always end well. And sometimes it's very hard to strategize how to do that safely for families."
The new facility will also make it possible for Toby’s House to stay open on weekends, offer overnight care, and increase the number of families it serves.
"We'll be able to nearly triple the number of children that we have in a day when we're ready to. We won't start that right away. We'll kind of grow into that as we grow our operations and scale it up a little bit," Ford said.
The project was made possible by a $500,000 donation from Jimmy and Debbie Filipowicz,
"We also feel that they will be able to continue with their great work as the love and compassion for little children that they have provided for since 2017. We are so pleased to be a part of this project," said Debbie Filipowicz.
Jesse Waldenberg, civil construction president of Central Plumbing Heating Excavation, said the project still needs additional funding to reach completion: "Project is about 75% funded at this point, and we need a lot more participation for a great cause."
He continued, "It's a great cause funding a great organization that's in major need of what we're doing here. For our company, this is a record donation that we're going to be contributing, and it feels really good because it's going to a lot of kids that greatly need this."
The new building will cost approximately $1.5 million and is expected to open this summer.
Since opening its doors in 2017 in a small duplex at Fifth Street and Fifth Avenue North, Toby’s House has provided emergency childcare and support for families in crisis.
Toby’s House was created in honor of October "Toby" Perez, a two-year-old girl who died at the hands of her mother’s boyfriend in Great Falls in 2011. The crisis nursery provides short-term care for children voluntarily brought there by a parent or legal guardian.
Toby’s House’s mission is to prevent child abuse and neglect by providing accessible emergency child care for a number of reasons - for example, if the caregiver is resolving personal issues and cannot care for the child as they would like, emergency custody issues, medical emergencies, or for mental health or sobriety support.
As a nonprofit organization, Toby’s House relies on community donations and grants, and is always accepting donations to provide for families in need.
To learn more, volunteer, or donate, click here to visit the website, or click here to visit the Facebook page. You can also call 406-770-3191 or email admin@tobyshousemt.org.
