Tod Gillilan notes that when he came back to Lancaster, he had nothing. He was 21 years old in 1948 when he opened his car dealership, and jokes the other, more established dealers made a little fun of him.

Gillilan built up his business, Pioneer Motors, to when he closed it when he was 86, it was a success, and that success was because of the support he got from the community.

Which is why, at age 97, he has been in a continued push to give to community projects, including the Maple Street Kids Daycare moving project, where the largest childcare facility in the community presently moves from its original home inside the 1925 Winsklill Annex Building at Lancaster Community Schools to their own building along Alona Lane.

That project, from the purchase to renovation, will cost approximately $760,000.

“Its just a great place to donate,” said Gillilan, who noted what attracted him to the project was that it helps families.

“You are going to take care of the children, while their parents go to work and make money to support their families,” Gillilan said. “In this day and age, families have to work.”

Watching the project, Gillilan said he noticed others who were giving, seeing others like Les and Julie Vondra, and Ted Schacht, giving money to the project, or groups like the Grant Antique Collectors Club giving, but could see it was a slow slog to raise the needed funds.

So he stepped in. For Gillilan, it was about giving back. “These people have been their customers,” he said about being a business owner. It was their patronage that built his and others businesses, and he wanted to respond.

“You owe the community something,” he said of his mindset.

He noted other people giving to items like the MRI equipment at Grant Regional Health Center, his own efforts for the Lancaster Preschool and and Cancer Coalition, and the Grant County History Museum.

“We are just a small town. This is how we grow,” Gillilan said. “We cannot have the taxpayers pay for everything.”

“I want to see who I am giving to,” Gillilan said, wanting to give the money while he is still around. “The money has been put in pretty good places.”

“I won’t live forever,” Gillilan quipped.

For Gary Whittaker, President of the Maple Street Kids Board, the funding helps them move forward the money means they do not have to spend all the money, or eliminate assets to move forward with the renovation of the former Pioneer Directories Building, where Maple Street will be moving to.

“It helps our fundraising efforts,” Whittaker said of the donation, noting that they will continue to raise funds to help reduce the total of the loans they have taken out to purchase and renovate the building in order to move in.

With each donation, it means reducing their costs for the loan, which means they can keep the daycare program more affordable to the families who utilize it. “The more money we can continue to raise the less of the loan.”

Currently the daycare is in a waiting game as far as moving forward with their building project. Plans are still being reviewed at the state, and Whittaker hopes an update with their contractor, Portzen Construction, Friday will be positive, hoping at the least phases of the plans can be approved to allow construction can begin.

“They are ready to work on it,” Whittaker said, adding that expected construction would be roughly five weeks.

He hoped that the daycare will be in their new space before the end of the year, joking he would have rather been in at the beginning of this month, but he does not have control on how long it takes to get the plans approved by the state.

“We are in a holding pattern,” Whittaker said.

For more information, as well as donations can be sent to Maple Street Kids Daycare, 925 W. Maple Street, Lancaster WI 53813.