SALISBURY — Members of the Reach Church in Salisbury wanted to give young congregants a place to worship that felt all their own. A natural partnership with a child-care center in Salisbury and Kingz Kidz was born.

The center is located at 529 W. Innes Street. On Saturday, its organizers hosted a open house to offer an inside glimpse into the facility.

“We partnered with Brighter Beginnings,” organizer Tranise Brown said. “Stephanie Alston is the owner of this center. 

“On Sundays, this will turn into a Children’s Church.” 

Brown explained that the vision for Kingz Kidz came from a drive to enthuse younger church goers to learn about God. 

“We want to set a platform where the kids can come and call it their own and get them more excited about God and get them excited to come to church,” Brown said. 

Education coordinator Jeema Bey-Mickel said that through her work of leading and training teachers, Kingz Kidz hopes to provide a “firm foundation” in Christian education. 

Bey-Mickel’s job outside of the church is as a tutor and academic coach. 

“I used to work in the Rowan-Salisbury School System as a teacher,” Bey-Mickel said. “Now, I am doing what I love to do in the school system but I do it at church. I am able to mentor a lot of the volunteers who are interested in early childhood development and education.”

Bey-Mickel said that Sundays would be the core instruction day. 

“We usually do it in lieu of kids just going to the church and sitting,” Bey-Mickel said. 

She explained that there will be time during the summer where they plan to host a vacation Bible school.

“In the future, we plan to have a midday worship and core instruction for the kids,” she added. “This is a Christian education program that is forefronted by the Reach Church. We are so grateful to use the building that Stephanie Alston has her childcare center. We have partnered with her in hopes of continuing this journey of Christian education and getting kids to understand who God is and how he loves.”

For her part, Brighter Beginnings owner Alston, called the collaboration a “natural” partnership. 

“We started out as a drop-in care facility where parents, a lot of entrepreneurs and work-at-home moms would drop their kids off for up to four hours a day,” Alston said. 

Alston anticipates that her organization will be fully licensed this month so that it can accommodate children up to ages 12. 

“We want to do after school care,” Alston said.

She and Brown were offerings for the youth in Salisbury and through the Reach Church

“We had been talking about getting the youth programs started,” Alston said. “I was trying to get more eyes on the center, so we collaborated.”

Co-founder Alease Taylor addressed a crowd gathered in front of the facility on Saturday.

“I want to say it’s such an honor, privilege and pleasure,” Taylor said. “When I think about this day and how we are progressing and moving forward in life, I wish Pastor Raymond Taylor (was still alive) to be here.

Our (current) pastor (Brad Taylor) has been teaching on morning momentum about things that matter and this is one of those things that matter. Putting the word of God into our children and helping them have a firm foundation in God as they start to grow up. It’s not going to be long before they are in the world doing their own thing. They will have a foundation through Christ and for that we are grateful.”

Those interested in signing up for the facility can go to https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfQbf_IzBkgyi0RZO9WK-dE6w8vJOOSAEJMhyYMXKAfHE7mxg/viewform.