Winneshiek County Development officials Stephanie Fromm and Lora Friest met with Winneshiek County Supervisors Monday and announced that $5,244,000 in grants and donations has been collected for the new Sunflower Child Development and Discovery Center.

Sunflower’s Fundraising Committee has set a goal of another $1 million in grants and donations before the end of the year, noting that decisions will be announced this month on two grants asking for a total of $1 million, while three other grant applications asking for a total of $2.5 million will be determined in January.

The Decorah firm of Ethos Architecture has been hired to work on construction documents, which will be ready in April. Bids on the project then will be opened in May, with construction beginning next summer and lasting for one year.

Complete details about the project, as well as a link for donating to the project, are available at: https://www.decorahdiscovery.org/