History

In 1988 Kathy Kram began using the living room space of her home, to open Sugar Bears Day Care. Sugar Bears was licensed by the State of Michigan as a “Family Home” facility with a maximum child capacity of six children. Upon the completion of her basement in 1990, Sugar Bears Day Care became licensed through the state as a “Group Home” having a maximum child capacity of twelve children. Three years later in 1993, Sugar Bears becomes incorporated. The decision to open up a formal daycare center was made!

With the help of the Small Business Administration, on March 1, 1994 Sugar Bears Day Care Inc. leases and renovates a 1600 square foot building in Washington Township on Smale Street. Sugar Bears is licensed by the state as a Childcare Center with a maximum capacity of 45 children. Within three months, Sugar Bears is at full capacity and the need to meet the growing demands causes an investigation into new sites. In 1995, the decision is made to open a second location in Romeo at St. Johns Lutheran Church. Together, the combined capacity is now 85 children.

As Sugar Bears continued to grow in size and the demand for quality childcare increased, the opportunity presented itself to have a building constructed to meet her personal wants, needs, and specifications. In 1996 work began on a new building location at 59025 Van Dyke in Washington Township. At this time, Sugar Bears was changed to be called the Krambrooke Early Learning Center's. In 1997 the lease for the first of two 10,000 square feet buildings is signed and Krambrooke opened its doors. The combined total capacity for all three centers is now 195 children. In 1999, Krambrooke received accreditation for the Core Knowledge Curriculum for preschool through 8th grade students. At this time, the center on Smale Street and the center at St. Johns Lutheran Church merged into the one facility. The new facility had a total capacity of 183 children. The name was changed to Krambrooke Children’s Center. Also in 1999, plans for a phase II building went underway. Phase II was built on the west end of the property and in the fall of 2002 Krambrooke-Griffin Academy, a kindergarten through eighth grade private school, opened its doors.